NOWADAYS, sharing photos from your recent hike to Machu Picchu is as easy as emailing grandma a link to an online album. Since you probably spent hours researching and comparing different digital cameras to find your perfect fit, adequate time should be spent addressing how those photographs will be properly stored.

Storing Digital Photographs

Digital photographs are the easiest to maintain over long periods of time. Since images are instantly written to the memory card of your camera in a digital format, transferring them to your computer is a breeze.

Photo Sharing Sites

The most popular way of storing and sharing digital photographs utilizes online photo sharing sites such as Flick’r, Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish, and iPhoto. Even big box pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens, and RiteAid provide online photo centers where you can access your photos after their 1-hr photo processing is complete. These sites provide everything from mass storage space to actual hard copy album printing services. Some charge minimal fees for additional storage space and guaranteed periodic backups.

Rarely do server crashes or complete loss of data occur for these photo sharing sites, however, you should not rely on their infrastructure solely for protecting your memories. Have a backup solution in mind.

External Storage Systems

Owning an external hard drive is a must for budding photographers. With storage upwards of 300 gigabytes (G) and higher and coming in ultra portable sizes as small as your palm, external hard drives are rapidly becoming the storage system of choice, and can be taken with you on your travels. Top brands such as Western Digital’s Passport series, Iomega’s EGO series, and Seagate’s FreeAgent are just a few options out there.

CD/DVDs

Burning your photographs is a quick way of backing up your images, but the downsides to this approach include not being able to readily edit files that have been burned to disk, and limited storage space – usually 4.2 G per DVD. CDs and DVDs almost always come with protective casings, but for long term storage, make sure you keep them away from light and humidity.

Storing Hardcopy Prints

Chances are you still have a couple boxes of prints stashed away in your basement or attic. Unfortunately, both locations are some of the worst for housing photographs. Photos, especially color prints which are most prone to rapid deterioration, should be stored in the driest, coolest, and darkest spots of your house. Even though basements tend to be very cool, they are also associated with dampness which expedites the molding process and makes your pictures stick together.

Converting your prints to digital form is the recommended first step towards longer storage lives. Once they are converted into digital formats, you can readily store them on external drives or back them up to CD/DVDs. Before you spend hours slaving over a scanner with hundreds of prints, companies such as ScanCafe and ScanDigitalprovide scanning services for a couple cents per print at resolutions as high as 4000 dots per inch (dpi). John Owen’s article, The 24-Cent Scan, delves deeper into the world of photo scanning.

Storing Slides, Negatives and Transparencies

While visiting a friend’s family recently, we unearth boxes and boxes of slides dating back as far as 1940s. Reminiscing over memories on an old fashioned projector, I was impressed by the quality and durability of the slides. The great thing about slides is that they already come in protective covering and can be stored in safe metal, plastic, or cardboard slide boxes.

Scanning isn’t limited to prints only. Companies can also scan your negatives and transparencies, converting them into more manageable digital formats. Similar to hardcopy prints, slides, negatives, and transparencies need to be stored in cool and dry locations to stagnant the inevitable wear and tear process.

Fill the frame.

Oftentimes the easiest way to get a striking, attention-grabbing image is to get as close as possible. Fill the frame with your subject’s face, or, as in this case, focus on a single captivating feature.

Photo : Stuck in Customs

Provide context.

Other times, the key is keeping your distance and allowing your subject to go on about his / her activities.

Photo : Christian Bachellier

Capture subject’s personality.

The most engaging travel portraits reveal subtext, personality. Here we not only see the details of this stoic man’s face but also the curiosity that plays just beneath the surface.

Photo : jonrawlinson

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

What techniques do you utilize for portraiture? Please share in the comments below.

Girlie_in_Sydney

FIONA MILLER posted this on Flickr Blog yesterday and it looks like a good opportunity:

The Flickr Collection on Getty Images has been growing and growing since it launched back in March – with a princely figure of nearly 60,000 images in the collection so far. It’s no secret that there are billions of amazing photographs on Flickr, so it made perfect sense for us to find an easy way for members to suggest their own photos to be considered for the Flickr Collection on Getty Images.

Starting today you can submit a portfolio of 10 images to the Getty Images Call for Artists group, giving you an opportunity to showcase your best shots directly to the editors at Getty Images. The Getty Images creative team will regularly review the photos in the group pool, looking out for images they feel are marketable based on their industry expertise, and inviting new photographers to join the collection.

So, if you think your photos rock and are interested in being considered for the collection, join the Getty Images Call for Artists group and follow the submission guidelines or check out our updated FAQs.

-Posted by Fiona Miller

I CAUGHT this vid on YouTube and wanted to point out that some really solid VO can keep your audience interested and establish a narrative flow.

Aside from being fun to watch, this travel video is an excellent example of what can make a great travel video. Notice that from the get go the VO establishes who the characters in the story are and their relationship to one another.

Also notice that interviews play a key role in telling the story of the brothers adventure. You won’t always have the camera running when something important happens. What you can do is take some establishing footage after the fact and splice it together with an interview where you describe what is not being seen. The audience has a good imagination and will fill in the gaps.

While the footage is good, I believe what makes this video exceptional is the attention to narrative and story. A solid narrative voice can go a long way my friends. For more video tips read Tips for Travel Video: The Elements of a Story. And don’t forget to check out MatadorTV; presenting the very best travel videos.

Here are 4 of 157 videos Thomas has on his YouTube channel. Aside from shooting his own video, Thomas wants you to learn the techniques and gain the tools to fund your travels with video production.

How to make money with travel videos

Tutorial 1: Setting up your tripod and panning

Tutorial 2: How to record good audio

Here is an excellent example of Thom’s work:

Adelaide to Alice Springs Outback 4WD Safari

Visit Thom’s website, Filmingholidays.com or hit him up on his YouTube channel.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Get your fill of travel videos with 7 Most Inspiring Travel Video Channels on YouTube then once you are filled with inspiration, edit your own footage and upload to our YouTube group!

I’ve never been to a writing conference. I have a strong aversion to most hotels, conference rooms, food-service by Sysco™, and one person on stage talking to a big group of people sitting in chairs.

This, of course, may or may not even be how conferences are, but it’s still how they reside in my imagination, perhaps a byproduct of OD’ing on Bar Mitzvahs as a kid.

Either way, and all this being said, I’d totally go to a writing conference if invited to participate, or especially if I had some kind of reportorial mission to help me feel like I wasn’t just straight-up schmoozing, something I’ve never been able to do ‘effectively.’

In the meantime, with all the conference-related tweetage I’ve seen from colleagues lately, I thought I’d ask Trish Miller of Travel Writers Exchange to help line out a few quick things about writing conferences and how they pertain to travel writers.

[DM] How important is it for travel writers to attend conferences?

[TM] I definitely think that travel writers of all levels can benefit from writers conferences, but there are only a few that are really geared for “travel” writers. The key factor is ‘what is the mix of educational content’ – which ideally should include both the print and online media – some writers conferences are only just starting to include information on digital media and aren’t very strong yet. Primarily because they are put on by old dinosaurs of the travel writing world.

What can you actually accomplish at a writing conference?

The educational tracks will typically vary, but generally include a combination of panel discussions on both traditional and new (digital) media, and lecture style sessions featuring editors of print pubs and some large online pubs giving advice on how to get published.

One thing they don’t do is cover the very basics – they pretty much assume that if you’re there, you’re already a travel writer and just looking to find new markets, meet editors and publishers, network, and maybe pick up some new tips and tricks

What is the most relevant conference for aspiring travel writers to attend?

Book Passage Travel Writers Conference is one of the oldest and still probably the best to attend, but their Digital Media track was not as in-depth as I’d hoped it would be. I realize that it’s a new area for them, as they’ve been heavily into teaching for print pubs and book authoring, and some travel photography, until this year. So maybe next year they will expand this track.

They did have a great lineup of very high-level award-winning editors, publishers, photographers, and literary agents on their faculty who went above and beyond with spending one-on-one time with attendees – very valuable.

I’ve been to a couple of other travel writers conferences, but they are all smaller than BP in terms of attendees, faculty, and sessions. There is one here in Scottsdale AZ this week that I’ve attended in the past, but am skipping this year. Too small, too expensive, not worth the investment of time or money.

I do recommend any writers conference – not just travel writers conferences – if someone is just starting out, especially if they can find a small local conference and avoid travel expenses, as they’ll get a lot out of it, but more experienced writers would be better served to attend something that actually teaches them how to transition to digital media and learn how to effectively use social networking. That is still somewhat lacking in writer’s conferences, but well covered in other conferences like BlogWorld Expo (which I’m going to this week) and PubCon.

Community Connection

What do you think about writing conferences? What positive (or negative) experiences have you had? Am I totally ‘off’ with my ‘food service by sysco’ preconception? Please share with us in the comments below.

I had the pleasure of filming and editing videos for Black Rock TV, a new burning man “news and events” video series. I walked out of the desert with hours of footage and after a month I have some great videos to show for it. Please check out Black Rock TV.com and show some love!

I would love to hear what you think of the videos.

Check out more vids at www.blackrocktv.com

Community Connection

Matador has Burning Man covered! BNT’s Best Of The Week: Burning Man Roundup, 5 Things Cities Can Learn From Burning Man, One Week in The Desert: a Burning Man Documentary.

In the end it comes down to a lot of ass to chair. Photo: Chapendra. Feature photo: The Alieness Gisela Giardano.

One of the students enrolled in Matador U posted this question in the student forum:

What does it take to elevate yourself in the world of writing? What does it take to become an editor or to get noticed to write a guide/book?

Several Matador editors share advice based on their own experiences:

Julie Schwietert Collazo, Managing Editor; Matador Change & Matador Pulse Editor:

First, ask yourself if you *really* want to be an editor or if you *really* want to write a guidebook.

Lots of newer writers look to editorial positions and guidebook contracts as the pinnacle of professional travel writing. Both do have their perks, but you need to ask yourself some important questions. With respect to editorial positions: do you really want to be an editor? An editorial position typically involves very little writing (Matador’s somewhat of an exception, as are some other online travel publications) and lots of time spent in the slush pile, eyes rolling after you’ve read the word “paradise” for the umpteenth time. There are other tasks, too, but the bottom line is this: the job of an editor is very different from that of a writer.

With respect to guidebook writing, you have to consider whether you really know a place deeply and whether you have the skills not just to write concisely about that place given a very rigid template, but whether you have time and money management skills, too. As you progress through the Matador U course, you’ll come across a chapter that’s specifically about guidebook gigs.

Finally, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to take the time to become a good writer. Don’t rush to rise to the top because if you’re not ready to be there, you’ll have a much more difficult time getting back there later in your career.

Lola Akinmade, Matador Goods, Editor:

By leveraging other skill sets such as social networking and marketing skills, and being proactive about your work, you might catch a few eyes.

Carlo Alcos, Matador Trips Co-Editor:

Don’t underestimate the “right place, right time” scenario. While you might not have much control over that, you do have control over being ready, willing, and able to take advantage of any opportunities that come your way.

I’d submitted a few articles to Matador and was very active around the site and community — commenting on articles, responding to forum posts, commenting on other members’ blog posts. This activity was obviously noticed. It’s worth a mention that I didn’t have any ulterior motives to my involvement with the site; I just plain loved to do it and I am guessing that made itself visible.

Back to “right place, right time”. Matador just happened to be expanding operations and changing directions so they were hiring a team of editors. Bingo bango, here I am.

Hal Amen, Matador Trips Co-Editor:

[Getting noticed] is much easier in the online world that in print. Websites, blogs, and social media are accessible to everyone, and interacting through them gives you a chance to communicate one-on-one with editors.

For a year, I was as active as I could be, first within the Matador community and then on their network of themed blogs that launched in early 2008. I friended people. I read blog posts and commented. I wrote my own blog posts. I commented on articles. I submitted my own articles. I Stumbled and Dugg and tweeted Matador content. It didn’t take long before I was on the radar of multiple Matador editors, first as a community and social media contact, then a contributor, and then a member of their pool of “dream team” contributors.

Last March I got an email with the subject line of “New Role at Matador?” inviting me to come on board as co-editor of Trips. I said hell yes.

It didn’t happen overnight, but it didn’t take that long either. Choose your venue(s), put in some effort, participate, behave professionally and positively, and see what happens.

Christine Garvin, Brave New Traveler Co-Editor:

Sometimes, I like to look at this process from the “energetic” perspective, as in how much energy am I putting in to make things happen? I know it can feel pointless sometimes to send out proposal after proposal and get rejected, or worse yet, never hear anything, but I do believe there are forces at work that note that energy. And that’s when something ends up coming out of left field that you had never anticipated, like a random editor seeing your blog and asking you to write a piece.

Tom Gates, Matador Nights Co-Editor:

My advice is to make sure you have climbed each rung on the ladder before trying to advance. I stupidly emailed a few guidebooks early on, thinking hey, I’m a hotshit writer and I like to travel, hire me. I had nothing to my credit but blogs and they (rightly) wanted nothing to do with me.

Now I have a portfolio of articles to show anyone who asks and that seems to go quite a bit further. Also, remember, when somebody asks you for some of your links, MAKE SURE to think about which ones you’re sending based on who your target is. Don’t send snarky or jargon-y things to a prim, don’t send by-the-numbers pieces to somebody who has a bit of ‘tude.

Sarah Menkedick, Matador Abroad Co-Editor:

Photo: pheaber

Write, write, and write. Stop spending so much time fretting about exactly where to write and when to write and how to write, and just sit down and do it. And then go back and read, knowing that you’re going to have to cut out a lot of stuff that felt just brilliant when you first wrote it.

Leave your work for a while and when you come back to read it again, eliminate anything – anything – that does not feel truthful. Read the styles you want to write. And then again, write, write and write.

David Miller, Founding Editor of Traveler’s Notebook; Senior Editor:

Getting noticed starts with having an original writing voice and putting it out there for people to read, either by getting published or just by posting on your blog.

David Page, Contributing Editor:

Edit yourself ruthlessly. Write it out, let loose, go crazy, but then go back with the shears and get serious. Every single word should carry its own weight (and more). Even if it’s the best sentence you’ve ever written, the clearest image, the cleverest little twist, if it doesn’t contribute to the piece, lose it.

Study the publication you want to write for. Know the boundaries of what they publish. Give em fresh, but don’t ask em to reinvent themselves on your behalf.

Want to write a guidebook? Study the series you want to write for, study the market, know what’s out there and what isn’t, what sells and what doesn’t, find a hole in the catalog, fill it. Fill it perfectly. Write a proposal they can’t refuse. Be prepared to do your own promotion (gulp). If the series doesn’t exist, study the market, know what’s out there and what isn’t, what sells and what doesn’t, learn the realities of printing and distribution, advertising and (again) promotion, risk a lifetime of poverty and ignominy for what you know to be the truth—or as close as you can crawl to it anyway.

Otherwise, just keep writing the absolute best shit you can muster and hope that posterity will do you justice. By then you’ll be over it.

Paul Sullivan, Contributing Editor:

Persistence. This writing game is full of ignored / unread emails and unanswered phone calls – for established professionals as well as for budding writers, believe it or not. It’s easy to get sensitive and think the world of editors owe you a response but the truth is: they don’t. And they’re often simply too busy to get back to people they’ve never heard of. Develop a thick skin, keep believing in your talent and learn how to be persistent without being annoying.

It took me three years and a couple of face to face meetings to get a reply from one particular guide book publisher that I really wanted to work for – but now I work for them fairly regularly as a photographer and writer. If I had given up after the first 10 or whatever emails (at least!), I would never have realised that particular dream. Accept that bagging quality clients is a long-term task. Make a list of your faves. Find the right contacts (also incredibly important – unless you want all your emails being immediately deleted by an irrelevant and unsympathetic member of staff). Hit them regularly with professional calls/mails and fresh ideas. Be persistent. You’ll get there.

Leigh Shulman, Matador Life Editor:

Produce solid content. Know what you’re talking about and write well. Keep a blog as you’re building your portfolio. If nothing else, it gives you practice in finding your voice, style and interest. Once you’ve done that, you’re half way there. Then, it’s a matter of being connected with the right people.

I connected to people through Twitter, Couchsurfing, high school friends, college friends. I don’t seek people out simply because of what they can do for me, though. I make honest connections by finding and following people I genuinely enjoy. I like their writing, their work, their attitudes. Over time, as you read their work and get to know them, many of the people you contact — many, although not all — will support your work as well.

How’s this for a personal anecdote: I joined Twitter about a year ago. Soon after, I ran across @collazoprojects. I loved her website, enjoyed the point of view and thought the author to be extremely intelligent and well spoken. We got to know each other through our blogs, tweets, and almost met face-to-face once, but it didn’t work out. Turns out, she’s also a Matador editor.

Then one day, I heard from another friend of mine — Vicky, a travel writer I originally met through Couchsurfing, but we connected on Twitter as well. She sent me a link to Matador’s job posting for a contribuing editor. I immediately conacted @collazoprojects to let her know about it, hoping she might have some advice or input. Next thing I know, David, the senior editor e-mails me, asking me to apply. He’d seen my blog on Julie’s recommendation.

Less than a week later, here I am, new editor of Matador Life.

Beyond that. Be patient. And be yourself. Few things happen overnight, but if you’re diligent, keep writing, keep meeting people, you’ll find yourself where you want to be faster than you believed.

Community Connection:

What questions do you have for the Matador editors? Submit a question below and it might just be answered in a future article.

Image: thenextweb

We’ve already written a lot about marketing language, specifically cliches.

This story, 10 Words and Phrases we Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again has, as of this morning, almost 44,000 views. So I know this information is getting out.

But it seems like writers are always finding new ways to get marketing style language in their narrative or travel writing, even if it’s not straight up cliches. Sometimes it’s just the structures commonly used in advertising and commercials.People watch TV, movies, listen to the radio, and the rhythms are so ubiquitous they end up embedded in people’s language, speech, and writing.

With that said, let’s look at three of the most common of these marketing ‘constructions’ and how they subvert your storytelling authenticity.

1. The “Casual Imperative”

I don’t know how this gained popularity, but you see it all the time in destination pieces. It’s where the narrator switches from simply telling a story, for example, “Every year I visit my parents in Sarasota,” or giving information, for example, “Sarasota has good used bookstores,” to this kind of casual, friendly-but-imperative style language. As soon as I start reading it, it’s hard not to automatically give it a ‘big movie-man announcer’ style voiceover in my head:

Walk barefoot on the white sand beaches of Siesta Key; indulge in the numerous restaurants in St. Armand’s circle. Catch up on your reading at one of Sarasota’s incredible bookstores!

The exclamation point is often a giveaway.

2. The “Hey, Let Me Show You”

This is where the narrator withholds a certain bit of information in one sentence, and then drops it into a second sentence (or later in the first sentence) as a kind of ‘punchline.’ It’s essentially forcing on the reader a certain importance or specialness of whatever is mentioned. But this construction creates the exact opposite effect: it makes you want to stop reading.

In Siesta Key there is one thing you won’t find anywhere else. It’s sand, sand the consistency of talcum powder.

Again, if you read this sentence imagining a movie-trailer voice it adds to the effect.

3. The “Hypothetical”

This one is similar to the “hey let me show you,” only instead of two statements, the narrator asks him or herself a question:

How many people wouldn’t want to live next to a beach like this?

The hypothetical, like the other two constructions, fails because it tries to force the reader into feeling a certain way about the story or question rather than just asking the question or telling the story and letting the reader think / feel for herself.

Note that there is a subtle difference between the hypothetical above (where the implications are your feelings / desires) and a straight up question that flows directly out of the narrator’s logic / voice, such as: “How many people in this gated community have actually spoken to their next door neighbors?”

In general, any of these marketing / advertising style constructions are total anti-stoke. They make me stop reading whatever it is. If you need help recognizing them in your own reading, try reading your drafts out loud, noticing if ever it feels like what you’re saying sounds like it’s part of a movie trailer.

Community Connection

What other constructions do you see in writing that annoys you? Let us know in the comments below.

For more on writing, check out our new resource, the Writing Focus page at Matador.

Thomas is Irish. Tim is American. They’re leaving their lives in New York City to travel the globe and make a travel show about how the rest of the urban world lives.
No guidebooks. No tourist traps. No all-inclusive resorts.

Instead, they’ve made contact with one local, a complete stranger, who wants to show them what life is really like in their city. It could be amazing. It could be a disaster. But that’s the only way they want to travel.

[P.S.] This Is My City sounds like the kind of project you might dream up if you wanted to spend a year having a great deal of fun, travel the world and perhaps get paid along the way. But how did the idea come about?

This idea was in fact part of a carefully planned scheme to escape the day job, have a great deal of fun, travel the world and also create something in the process. We had both traveled quite a bit and we realized that we always found ourselves in the most interesting and memorable situations when we made an effort to engage with locals and get to know them. We felt that this was a way of traveling that we wanted to do more of and also something we wanted to promote. And that’s how the show was born.

Is the series fueled by a dislike / disillusionment of guidebooks?

You know guidebooks definitely have their uses. They can be really informative and genuinely helpful at times. We’ll be carrying Lonely Planet Japan around with us and we’re not ashamed of that. But guidebooks also have their limitations and we are a little disillusioned with most of the travel shows out there. Locals aren’t usually the ones writing guidebooks or hosting travel shows and we see this as a mistake. So our show puts the local first.

What made you include the “we can’t say no” rule? And aren’t you secretly worried that some Jackass enthusiast might make you snort wasabi or take your clothes off in a snowstorm?

Our ‘don’t say no’ rule was born out of a moment in Reykjavik when for no good reason we were attempting to turn down the gay shaman seven-hour sweating ritual that our host Vidar was proposing to us. He was insistent though and seven hours later, physically and spiritually reborn, we made a pact to never say ‘no’ on this show again. Exposing yourself to local customs and really getting into the way of life might make you uncomfortable. But being a little uncomfortable is not a bad thing. Our rule isn’t about being stupid or reckless, it’s about being always open. If snorting wasabi naked in a snowstorm is something that the locals actually do, we’re up for it.

How come you did Reykjavik first – and how did you find a star like Vidar?

Reykjavik was somewhere we both had always wanted to go and it had the advantage of being close to New York but also extremely foreign. Then of course it also has the culture, style, music and ice going for it. We knew one or two people in Iceland and thankfully everyone in Iceland knows everyone else in Iceland. And we got very lucky with Vidar. He was a legend for the part.

Watch the pilot episode for This Is My City. I highly recommend it!

What’s your M.O. when working on your shows. Is there a casting process? What kind of character are you looking for, in a nutshell – and how do you know when you’ve found them?

To find our local hosts, we cast a really wide net and hope for the best. We contact friends, friends of friends as well as complete strangers. We approach bands, artists, writers and talk to everyone we meet about where we’re going and who they know. It’s like six degrees of separation applied to place. Once we have a potential host, we get a rough itinerary and start a conversation with them. The motive to be a host needs to come from a sincere love of the city in question and a desire to share that with the world. Strange is also good. When our Belgrade hopeful said he would be bringing us to a ZZ Top gig followed by a massive party on a raft, we knew we had our man.

Which countries have you got lined up next, and why have you chosen these places specifically?

We’re taking off on a trip that will hit twelve cities in all five continents. Our first production leg will bring us to eight cites over three months visiting places like Berlin, Beirut, Osaka and Melbourne. The second leg will bring us to Bogota, Mexico City and Detroit amongst others. The show won’t just profile capitals and ‘great’ cities, which has been done too many times before. We want to visit second cities as well as the odd huge chaotic metropolis – contrast is key for an entertaining season. Our philosophy is that you can have a spectacular time anywhere; be it Michigan or Brazil. In fact we think that less obvious destinations will entice more in the way of magic.

What have been the major obstacles so far?

Well we’re still looking for an Osaka host and apparently security detail is going to be required in Serbia but the major obstacles begin when we hit the road. We’re expecting travel disasters and language barriers and culture shock and boredom and God knows what else because this show is about traveling for real. It’s not pretense and it’s not setup. And we won’t be trying to hide the bad times or the obstacles. Everything that happens on this trip will make it into the show.

What are the most ridiculous or memorable situations you’ve encountered so far?

There are always things that you can’t capture quite as well as you’d like and one thing about Reykjavik that probably doesn’t come across in the pilot is the physicality of the people there. In bars and clubs, people actually walk through you. They barge, they push, they spill drinks, they take your drinks and they literally move you out of the way if they feel like it. Without asking. As Vidar explained to us, it’s like one big family of hunters there. And that was very different and very cool.

How much spontaneity or “on-the-flyness” is involved?

This show is 100% spontaneous. Seriously. The only prep is choosing our host and once we have them we’re in their hands. We arrive, we make a phone call and then we assume our enthusiastic guinea pig positions. Also, we have very small and unobtrusive HD cameras, no lights and no crew except for one local producer. So we really are on-the-fly and spontaneous because we’re trying to make a real show here and not a reality show.

How long does it take to complete a show, from beginning to end?

It takes about four weeks to complete a show from beginning to end. Rather than edit on the road, we’re traveling and shooting in big chunks and then doing post when we return. We’re a two-man production team: Thomas produces; Tim edits; we both shoot; we’re both in it. It’s really stripped down, which is something you can do these days because of the technology available. We’ve had to master the art of filming while intoxicated but even that’s possible with the correct training.

In that sense, this is kind of a guerilla show. Do you think that’s the way forward for video / film entertainment shows (travel, music etc)?

This is a guerilla show yes but the production model is determined by the content we’re looking for. The reason we’re guerilla is because we want to be intimate and personal and we aspire to being real in a way that makes you feel like you’re actually there with us, experiencing the city. The film industry and its accompanying apparatus are there because you really do need them to make a film. Documentary approaches on the other hand are always being widened by advancements in technology.

How long do you plan to be on the road for?

We’re shooting a 12-episode season and taking a week in each place. We’ll be doing it in two legs with minimal breaks. It’s essentially back-to-back shows, which is going to be interesting. It’s definitely going to take years off our lives.

How are you funding the trip?

We have some independent backing for the first season of the show but our approach is extremely low budget until a giant network swoops in and drowns us in cash. We don’t have a syndication deal yet (hello Mr. and Mrs. network executive readers) but we’d like this show to reach a global audience and we think that TV is the best medium for it. For now, you can follow our trip on www.thisismycity.tv and stay tuned for news and developments.

You both have fairly high profile backgrounds in video & film. Would you say this is helpful or indispensable?

We think it’s amazing that you can pick up a cheap camera and shoot broadcast-quality video. Kids are doing it all the time now and it’s definitely the way forward for a whole new generation of DIY content. That said, our experience and our backgrounds have been an asset when it comes to bringing footage, music, narrative and nonsense together to make a relatively polished final product.

Become a host on This Is My City

This Is My City is still looking for hosts in Beirut, Osaka, and Melbourne. For the second leg of their journey Thomas and Tim are going to be looking for hosts in Sao Paulo, Bogota, Mexico City, Memphis and Detroit. Interested? Contact This Is My City: thomas@thisismycity.tv

It was impossible picking a winner for this. There were over a hundred entries, almost all of which were from folks who would be great prospective students at MatadorU.

In the end I took the 10 most promising entries, wrote down the names on slips of paper, and then my daughter Layla helped me choose at random. Here’s a video:

Susan wins a free tuition to MatadorU . Here was her entry from the original contest announcement:

@elasticfate

I’ve got gypsy in my blood.

My parents immigrated to America before I was born & took me on my first flight overseas to visit my family when I was 4. Since then I have not been able to shake this travel bug (Though honestly, I’ve never tried. Why would anyone want it to stop?) so I’ve been working on trying making my life as nomadic as possible so I can follow my soul’s desire to experience cultures all over the world.

I’m a photographer & blogger have been traveling across the US since February conducting what’s been the most incredible experience of my life so far:

http://rawtransformations.blogspot.com/2009/02/raw-vagabonding-community-building.html

and though I used to write a lot in the past, it’s only recently that I’ve become nomadic & began writing about my travels. The response from people has been really encouraging & since I already take photographs, I’d like to learn how to blend the two together better. It’s also been a really long time since I wrote for anyone but myself, so I feel I could really benefit from the input of professionals who know the ins & outs and could help me craft my pieces in a more cohesive manner. I’d also like to learn how (and where) to market them.

I’m already living an untraditional lifestyle, but would really like to make it more financially sustainable & pursue my passion for sharing my experiences with others.

Congratulations again Susan!

Community Connection

For those interested in learning more about the U, please visit the school here, or listen to this podcast, which really gets into the background of the school itself, the vision behind it, and who the teachers are.

It’s time to write. I wait for an image, a phrase, some remembered thing to jerk my hands against the keys but nothing comes. My palms itch, I try to sip from an empty coffee cup and curse at the lawnmower across the street that growls like a dog munching on my gray matter. I suddenly know I will never eke out anything worth skimming over, let alone reading again.

I suck.

In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.
- John Steinbeck

Do you ever ask yourself ‘am I good enough? Do I have anything worthwhile to say? Will people like my writing? Will people read my writing?’

The great Peruvian poet, César Vallejo, in the first quatrain of his sonnet “Intensidad y altura” wrote:

I want to write, but it comes out foam,

I want to say a great deal, but I get stuck;

There’s no spoken cipher that’s not a sum,

No written pyramid without a core.

Every writer grapples with graphophobia. You are attempting creativity and honesty in one careful motion. It’s like marching into a jungle with a half full canteen and no compass. You don’t know where you are going or what you will meet.

This is the solace: we come to this place, as writers, together. We name the fear, we pin it down with pens and move on, further into that dark jungle, happy for the fear and danger. The fear tells us we are moving closer to the place we want to be.

Writing is easy, you just stare at a blank screen until your eyes bleed.
-Douglas Adams

Across the street the lawn mower hits a rock but grinds forward.

Community Connection

Do you struggle with graphophobia and writers block? What does it feel like? What exercises do you use to overcome these struggles? Share your experiences in the comments.

What is your first memory of the internet? Holler at me if you thought computers were only for “Oregon Trail”!

Every reader, certainly every writer, has their book. Your book is not simply your favorite story, but your source of literary inspiration, your measure of what can be achieved by a writer. Reading it for the first time is something as remembered as when you lost your travel virginity.

My Book is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. This novel influenced the course of world literature and my life. Reading it moved something within me that no other book has. It knuckled me up for a fight and got my fingers flying. It gave me a context for the great literary tradition of social action, and it planted the seed within me to try to flesh out a few words of my own.

When unsure about my writing, my life, I go back to my book. What is your book? Where were you when you read it? What happened? Please tell us about it in the comments below. What is it about your book that keeps it numero uno?

Community Connection

Find more reads at BNT’s 50 Greatest Travel Books Of All Time.

Travel writing tends to get pigeonholed. You rarely find anything on it–from literary criticism to reviews of prominent or up and coming writers–outside of the same small group of online publications.

This is due partly to the sense that travel writing is often storytelling or language commodified, writing corrupted by marketing, which unfortunately is an on-point assessment in many cases.

Getting dozens of submission each week filled with salesman-y language makes me wonder what people are reading, but then coming across a New York Times travel section with the same cliches (here are some today: “Handsome beaches, bohemian design and youthful chaos”) answers my question.

One thing we’ve always believed at Matador is that travel writing should be an open and creative, ultimately literary form. Its only real requirement is that it’s based on faithful reporting, that the author doesn’t make anything up. And it should also give the reader a strong sense of place. In other words, the setting itself is almost like another character.

With that definition in mind, I wanted to share some of my favorite sites, magazines, and blogs, all of which publish, analyze, or at least touch on writing that has these elements, writing that goes by different names – “narrative nonfiction,” “creative nonfiction,” “literary nonfiction,” “place-based writing”- but is essentially “travel writing” even if it’s not recognized as such.

Internet Magazines

These are general magazines on literary criticism / writing, but not publishers:

1. HTML GIANT

HTML GIANT’s tagline is “the internet literature blog of the future.” Those who take themselves and their writing very seriously might reject this magazine ‘on its face’ (there are lots of f-bombs and an occasional crotch or breast shot couched as self-effacing promotion or “venturing into art”), but I haven’t found anywhere on the web with more vibrant and hilarious discussions on writing, authors, form, and just about anything.

Last week there was a post on Joyce that had almost 350 comments, many of them spontaneously written mini-essays that could’ve stood alone as posts on literary criticism and writing.

2. Pank Magazine’s Blog

Pank Blog self defines: “PANK inhabits its contradictions.” Some really good discussion, voices, and they also have their own magazine / publication.

3. New Pages

New Pages: “News, information and guides to independent bookstores, independent publishers, literary magazines, alternative periodicals, independent record labels, alternative newsweeklies and more.” Their blog has great posts on authors, new releases, contests, grants, and more.

Literary Journals

These are places that publish–albeit under a different label–travel writing:

4. Memoir

Memoir is pushing all kinds of new forms of writing that have to do with memory.

5. 4th Genre

4th Genre writes: “We invite you to experience Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction, a journal devoted to publishing notable, innovative work in nonfiction. The title reflects our intention to give nonfiction its due as a literary genre—to give writers of the fourth genre a showcase for their work and to give our readers a place to find the liveliest and most creative works in the form.”

6. Words Without Borders

Words Without Borders “opens doors to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world’s best writing.” Just getting into this publication–seems really strong.

7. Camas

Camas is the literary magazine based out of University of Montana’s writing program. Former contributors include Matadorians Teresa Ponikvar and Adam French. Camas publishes writing on place, with a special focus on the Rocky Mountain West.

8. River Teeth

River Teeth is a journal dedicated to “nonfiction narrative.” The authors they quote on the homepage (Tim O’Brien), and in the About Us (David James Duncan) are two of my favorites.

9. Virginia Quarterly

Virginia Quarterly just keeps getting better. Matador’s Managing Editor Julie Schwietert notes “their focus is increasingly place-based (and outside US).”

Print Publications

These are the ‘big-time’ markets.

10. The Sun

The Sun gets nationwide distribution at bookstores and places like Whole Foods and seems really fresh and new even though it’s been around for 30 years.

11. Orion

Orion – publishes great writing with regular contributors like Rick Bass and Barry Lopez. Like The Sun it’s ad-free.

Community Connection

These are some of the highlights. There are definitely more out there. What do you like to read?

Photo: dotbenjamin

Just over two weeks ago we announced the launch of Matador’s first educational component–MatadorU, a training course for writers at all levels of their careers.

Since then we’ve had dozens of students sign up and begin the 12-week curriculum. Discussion at the forums, writer/editor communication, and social networking / promotion of students’ writing has become more vibrant and diverse every day.

Plain and simple: it’s been the most exciting development at Matador since we grew from a single community to an integrated media network.

As a way of continuing to spread the word, we’re officially launching a twitter-based contest. Each month, we’ll offer one lucky student free tuition for MatadorU’s Travel Writing Course. The rules and ways to participate are super simple.

VIEW THE CONTEST RULES AND ENTER HERE.

Good luck to everyone, and we look forward to announcing the first winner!

[UPDATE 9/24: We're officially closing entries to this contest at midnight EST on 9/24.]

All photos by Lola Akinmade

If you’re a photographer building your online presence and are now regularly networking with other photographers to get crucial feedback and constructive criticism on various techniques, it’s probably time to begin thinking about contests.

Contests give you an assessment of how your photographs stack up against the competition as well as the visibility that comes with winning one.

A major downside is most competitions come with entry fees. Even well known contests from Photo District News (PDN) for professional photographers come with fees as high as $35 per photograph.

These costs usually go towards prize payouts, communication, marketing, and other administrative tasks.

For the hobbyist, this can be downright expensive and usually deters participation.

Other cons include rules that require photographers transfer all rights to the sponsor so always read the fine print as a few competitions may require this.

So we’ve rounded up a few popular contests that don’t require entry fees.

Free

National Geographic’s Your Shot – Readers are invited to upload photos and every day, Photo Editor Susan Welchman picks her daily dozen. Each month, one of the submitted photos is selected for publication in the magazine – a much coveted opportunity.

Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest – Powerhouse Smithsonian runs a high visibility contest that awards winners of each category $500 with the grand prize being an all expenses paid trip.

Energizer Photo Contest – Administered by National Geographic, this is one of their free contests with the grand winner landing spots on NG Expeditions to places like Tanzania and publication in the magazine.

Nikon Photo Contest International – Nikon has been running this free contest since 1969, providing opportunities for amateur photographers to spotlight their work.

Sony Photo Awards – With a prize of $5000 and all expenses trip to Cannes going to the overall winner, this is another contest worth exploring.

Nothing like camera giants Nikon and Sony promoting your photography through live exhibitions and online.

Fresh M.I.L.K – A grand prize of $50,000 and no entry fees makes M.I.L.K one of the best free contests out there. 150 winners are also selected with prizes of $500 each, and all winning entries are published in one of their books with royalties doled out. This contest was launched in November 2008.

Pricey But May Be Worth It

International Photography Awards (IPA) – With a cash prize of $10,000 for the International Photographer of the Year award and $5,000 for the Discovery of the Year, this renown contest provides lots of categories and opportunities to win, but at $25 per photograph, is one of the priciest.

National Geographic Traveler’s World In Focus Contest – With entry fees upwards of $22 per photo after the promotional deadline of $12 per photograph, winners of this contest win exciting all expenses paid trips and some nice professional grade cameras.

Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) – Usually touted as the Oscars or Emmys of Travel Photography, this may be worth considering. Keep in mind that the competition is fierce with established professional photographers usually sweeping all categories.

Winning one of these contests can definitely boost your portfolio and speed track your budding career as a travel photographer.

Community Connection

Know of other free contests worth entering? Please share them below

Los Angeles on Fire. NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

Driving over the pass at Beverly Glen, riding shotgun for a friend on the way to his wedding (gulp) in Encino, we suddenly find ourselves, along with several millions of other urban denizens otherwise going about their business this blistering Saturday afternoon, confronted with the spectacular roiling plume of the now-infamous Station Fire.

4,000+ homes and countless horses, pets and exotic animals have been evacuated. More than 60 homes have burned to their foundations. Vehicles have melted into their parking spots. 2 fire fighters are dead. The 74-year-old Vetter Fire Tower, where I once spent days above the smog, reading Kerouac’s Desolation Angels (of course), or chatting with veteran lookout Kermit Eller about his break-barrel Chinese Model 62 air rifle while surveying the advancing plague of ground squirrels, is gone.

Station Fire stats, Sept. 5, ten days in: Total Personnel: 5,244. Size: 154,655 acres. Growth Potential: High. Terrain Difficulty: Extreme. Estimated Containment Date: Tuesday September 15th, 2009 approx 06:00 PM.

It’s that time of the year again: wildfire season. Los Angeles is burning. Like in the Bad Religion song.

Like it has most every year since the beginning. Like it probably will—with ever greater frequency as the planet gets hotter—until there’s nothing left to burn.

Here’s a spectacular collection of images from the latest conflagration.

Plus four more unreal timelapse videos.

And here’s a quick sampler of the classic writing to have come out of the flames (much of which (and more) has been duly anthologized in David L. Ulin’s comprehensive Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology):

1. Raymond Chandler

It often begins with the wind, as Chandler wrote in his novella “Red Wind” (1938), published in the collection Trouble is My Business, also available on audio, read by Elliot Gould.

It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

2. Joan Didion

In her “Los Angeles Notebook,” published in Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Didion catalogs some of LA’s big mid-century fires: Malibu in ‘56, Bel Air in ‘61, Santa Barbara in ‘64, Watts in ‘65 (during the riots). She writes of how the San Gabriels went up in flames in November of ‘57, and again during the winter of ‘66-’67.

In “Fire Season (1989),” from After Henry, the register expands: 80,000 acres of LA County torched in ‘68, 130,000 in ‘70, 74,000 in ‘75, 34,000 in a single week in ‘78, 60,000 in ‘79, 46,000 in ‘80, 45,000 in ‘82. “Since 1919,” she writes, “when the county began keeping records of its fires, some areas have burned eight times.”

Most years it is September or October before the Santa Ana winds start blowing down through the passes and the relative humidity drops to figures like 7 or 6 or 3 percent and the bougainvillea starts rattling in the driveway and people start watching the horizon for smoke and tuning in to another of those extreme local possibilities, in this case that of immanent devastation.

She notes the particular language of fire, the subtleties of the “burn index,” the difference between fires “controlled” and “contained,” the difference between “full” and “partial” control, “the difference between a Red Flag Alert (there will probably be a fire today) and a Red Flag Warning (there will probably be a Red Flag Alert within three days).”

She grates at the notion (handed down from the NY Times) that people who live in such country do so in flat denial. “Denial,” she writes, “is a word from a different lyric altogether.” To live in fire country is to live like this:

When the fire comes there will be no water pressure. The roof one watered all the night before will go dry in seconds. Plastic trash cans must be filled with water and wet gunny-sacks kept at hand, for smothering the sparks that blow ahead of the fire. The garden hoses must be connected and left where they can be seen. The cars must be placed in the garage, headed out. Whatever one wants to save must be placed in the cars. The lights must be left on, so that the house can be seen in the smoke.

3. Nathanael West

Day of the Locust

In his emblematic early-LA novel Day of the Locust (1939), a sensitive young painter by the name of Tod Hockett comes to Hollywood, fresh from Yale, for an easy-money gig in set and costume design.

To escape the place, he sets himself to painting a grand opus (or to thinking about painting a grand opus) called “The Burning of Los Angeles”:

Across the top, parallel with the frame, he had drawn the burning city, a great bonfire of architectural styles… [S]pilling into the middle foreground, came the mob carrying baseball bats and torches. For the faces of its members, he was using the innumerable sketches he had made of the people who came to California to die; the cultists of all sorts, economic as well as religious, the wave, airplane and funeral preview watchers—all those poor devils who can only be stirred by the promise of miracles and then only to violence…

Watch John Schlesinger’s way-over-the-top interpretation here, from 1975, starring Donald Sutherland and Burgess Meredith.

4. John McPhee

New Yorker writer Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief) was in LA last week. For her, the visuals of the fire “underscored the essential absurdity of Los Angeles—a city of far too many people, perched on wobbly geology, without water, and perfectly flammable.”

She reminded us to re-read McPhee, from The Control of Nature (also online at newyorker.com), on the ongoing battle between Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mountains, and on the propensity of (and need for) the native vegetation to combust:

High or low—hard, soft, or mixed—all chaparral has in common an always developing, relentlessly intensifying, vital necessity to burst into flame. In a sense, chaparral consumes fire no less than fire consumes chaparral. Fire nourishes and rejuvenates the plants. There are seeds that fall into the soil, stay there indefinitely, and will not germinate except in the aftermath of fire. There are basal buds that sprout only after fire. Droughts are so long, rains so brief, that dead bits of wood and leaves scarcely decay. Instead, they accumulate, thicken, until the plant community is all but strangling in its own duff. The nutrients in the dead material are being withheld from the soil. When fire comes, it puts the nutrients back in the ground.

According to the Forest Service, the “fuels” in this part of the San Gabriels had “not experienced any significant large fire activity in the past 40 years.” It was high time. And so it goes:

Hundreds of acres can be burned clean in minutes. In thick black smoke there is wild orange flame, rising through the canyons like explosion crowns. The canyons serve as chimneys, and in minutes whole mountains are aflame, resembling volcanoes, emitting high columns of fire and smoke. The smoke can rise twenty thousand feet. A force of two thousand people may fight the fire, plus dozens of machines, including squadrons in the air. But Santa Ana firestorms are so violent that they are really beyond all effort at control. From the edge of the city upward, sixteen miles of mountain front have burned to the ridgeline in a single day.

5. Mike Davis

Ecology of Fear

One of the most thorough (and polemical) treatments of the relationship between fire and the city comes in Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster (1998). Davis traces the ancient Tong Va practice of intentional seasonal burning—now considered by most experts to be the most effective way to mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of wildland fire—to a situation today in which such an approach proves impossible.

Local fire agencies are hamstrung by the potential liability, while homeowners associations throughout the firebelt finger the trigger of litigation.

Once again, politicians and the media have allowed the essential landuse issue—the rampant, uncontrolled proliferation of firebelt suburbs—to be camouflaged in a neutral discourse about natural hazards and public safety. But ’safety’ for the Malibu and Laguna coasts as well as hundreds of other luxury enclaves and gated hilltop suburbs is becoming one of the state’s major social expenditures, although—unlike welfare or immigration—it is almost never debated in terms of trade-offs or alternatives. The $100 million cost of mobilizing 15,000 firefighters during Halloween week 1993 may be an increasingly common entry in the public ledger. Needless to say, there is no comparable investment in the fire, toxic, or earthquake safety of inner-city communities. Instead, as in so many things, we tolerate two systems of hazard prevention, separate and unequal.

The battle against the Station Fire alone has, as of this writing, cost upwards of $80 million. In a state that is now famously on the threshold of complete financial collapse. And so it goes: the fires burn on. The city edges back a bit to watch the spectacle.

Then one day, perhaps, the rain will come, and the debris slides. Seeds will germinate. Across the slopes and in the canyons will spring new manzanita and chamisa, buckwheat, burroweed and Scotch broom. Wild mustard will grow taller than a man, dry up in the wind and then burn again.

Epilogue

On September 30, 2009, the Forest Service initiated an interagency review of the Station Fire, summarizing the basic stats as follows: “The Station Fire exhibited unusually extreme fire behavior for southern California and involved one of the largest initial attack efforts ever undertaken. To date, the suppression cost of the Station Fire is $93 million and at its peak, 5,244 firefighters were assigned. The Station Fire burned 160,577 acres, destroyed 89 structures and killed two LA County firefighters.”

Photo By: Pyrosim-the-archivist

“-cations”

Momcation

A momcation is when the mamas leave the papas and the babies at home and go out into the world, unafraid and unfettered by their loved ones. The word peppers women’s magazines and online forums. It’s overused, and annoying.

Mancation

This, we assume is the response to the momcation, when men pack up to engage in testosterone-laden activities like log hurling and volcano racing. It sounds a little like you’re making fun of yourself before you even leave.

Staycation

Photo By: francapicc

Here we have a word based in the idea that you go nowhere, and yet somehow are still vacationing. We get it. You didn’t go anywhere except out to the back porch. But does it really need its own word?

Gaycation

You’re queer and you’re not here. Go on any kind of trip you like, whether it’s sailing the open ocean or delving into a new life philosophy. But gaycation?

-packing

Glampacking

Here’s the chance to make something that’s essentially not glamorous into something that’s… still not glamorous. Glamor and suitcases do not go together, no matter how well you roll your silk shirt.

Flashpacking

This sounds you and the laundrette got into a fight and she kept your pants. If you go for the wheelie-suitcase and hotels over backpacks and hostels, you can be a traveler, but please do not give this mongrel word more leverage than it’s already gained.

Other ugly hybrids

Weddingmoon

If you combine your actual “I do”s with a trip, please call it a combination wedding/honeymoon. Once together, these words have no magnetic pull, no romantic suggestion. It sounds like a condition from which you suffer, like a very special sort of hangover.

Transumer

Photo By:TomRiley

A transumer travels to purchase, and lives to do both. Clunkier than a pair of wooden clogs bought from the source, and uglier than clothes tried on in the back of a van in Milan, this word sounds like if you’re not careful, you might change forms right before our eyes. Please delete.

Touron

This ‘not-me’ word tells you that the tourist you see is (psst!) actually a moron. It’s a way to point your finger at “the other guy” while you sound ‘cool’ for using the word. It’s rude, and reminds us of learning the declensions in Ancient Greek, so it gets extra demerits.

Jetiquette

Jetiquette refers to Emily Post’s unwritten rules for being an airline passenger. Jetiquette is also the evil stepsister of netiquette and all the other –iquettes. We wish they would all get on a boat together and go on a new wordcation with little or no navigational equipment.

And a bonus: If you travel for work and tack on an extra day to jog past landmarks or tick off modern architectural marvels, you’re not just ’sightjogging,’ nor a mere ‘architourist,’ you’re also engaging in what some people like to call ‘weisure.’ It’s a mix of work and leisure. But not on our watch.

Community Connection

Please check out more words and phrases we never want to hear again.

Travel Diary

Being alone in New York pushed Keng-Ming Liu into a dark corner and he released his anxiety by communicating with my friends throughout world. He condensed his thoughts and feelings into travel diaries…

Travel

An amusing way to spend 25 seconds…how many times do you see George Bush?

Amsterdam

An animated account of a trip to Amsterdam including an encounter with fellow backpackers, the red light district and witnessing one of the benefits of visiting the Netherlands – legalized pot! Produced by Hilary Leben for Lonelyplanet.tv.

Travel

‘Travel’ is a short animation made using an overhead projector based on my personal thoughts and experiences of travelling. It is a stop-frame pieced together in After Effects. This animation is part of a larger project; visit kellyangood.co.uk to see it as a whole.

A Invitation to Travel.

Animation film by David Gautier based on the famous poem by Charles Baudelaire.

Community Connection

Are you a movie buff? Then you should most definitely check out The 20 Most Memorable Travel Films (That Aren’t Really About Travel)& 8 Bollywood Movies to Watch.

Strange recorded tape when I was in Paris for you.
By marin & sybila

Travels
By Wing Yin Yau

Cairo Street
By hatzputra

It Goes Without Saying
By Una Lorenzen

Zaragozoom!!
By Javier Fernández Fañanás

Community Connection

I see you are a strange one too…in that case you want to check out MatadorPulse Archives of Weird Stuff.

It’s hard to know where to begin with MatadorU. Inside the forums and with new students, it almost feels like that same energy that was around at the very beginning of Matador–strangers quickly getting to know one another, stoking off each other’s perspectives, places, and writing.

Thinking back to those early days, it’s almost crazy to realize how far we’ve come in less than 3 years. Ross Borden and Ben Polansky, Matador’s co-founders, started Matador in April of 2006. It was just a small site with little funding. It had no traffic, no revenue.

Today we’ve grown into the most-read independent travel publication online. Last week we were featured at WordPress as one of the top 10 highest rated sites for our design. And we have a dozen other plans right now for new projects and sites we’re still envisioning.

Sill, having an educational component of Matador has always been one of our most important dreams. Half the staff, including myself, have backgrounds in education. Both Ben Polansky and Tim Patterson are currently teaching in addition to their work at Matador. And I think this “educator’s mindset” – always needing to share, include, and build community–has been a key factor from the very beginning of Matador’s development.

Basically what we’ve done at MatadorU is take the blueprint of how we’ve grown Matador (and how individuals have become successful professional travel writers), and break it down into easy to follow lessons.

We’ve designed each chapter to build on the next so that a person with literally no experience can immediately get their blog set up, begin to develop their writing skills, and learn how to network and begin preparing work for publication.

At the same time, experienced writers will find even the early chapters relevant, with assignments that help further their online presence and reinforce the development of their storytelling. Later chapters will focus on skills they may find themselves lacking, such as implementing social media, negotiating contracts, and dealing with ad networks.

Finally, enrollment in the school also includes access to a new, daily-updated list of exclusive market leads. As several editors on staff are multilingual and work with foreign publications, plans are in the works to begin expanding the market leads to other languages as well, beginning with Spanish.

I feel like online courses raise a natural suspicion in people’s minds. I know I think twice about anything that asks me to pay when it comes to writing, even something as small as an entry fee for a writing contest. But we’ve set this course up so that its super-affordable. Over twelve weeks it comes out to $2.60 per day, the cost of a visit to the cafe. And we totally guarantee you’ll love this curriculum, or you can suspend your enrollment after 3 weeks and still get a full refund.

Here is a welcome page for those interested in learning more about MatadorU. We also have a blog recently set up for what people are saying about the school. If you’d like to go directly to the U, please click here.

Photo: CarbonNYC Feature Photo: Cam Vilay

This week’s stories will make you laugh, but they also remind us to pay attention to our surroundings and to the words coming out of our mouths when we’re on the road in unfamiliar cultures–lest we unwittingly plant images of cheeses coated in bodily fluids in the minds of our new friends, or enrage swordfish-wielding Italian chefs.

Thanks to everyone who submitted!

“It started out like any other beginners’ English class. My students were chatting about morning routines when out it slipped.

‘In the morning, I have a big Cock,’ he announced, smiling shyly at his classmates, pleased with himself.

Susana joined in. ‘I don’t like Coca-Cola,’ she said, ‘but I love coffee. I have two cups with milk and then I get dressed and brush my tits.’

–Natasha Young

“We were in Serbia, drinking Turkish coffee with friends one morning, and we started talking about a billboard we saw in Nis the night before. It said (in English): Brain Rules Force Timber Push.

Photo: Nihit

What? The Serbs all started trying to explain — talking at the same time in those loud voices that makes our friend Paul tell his Serb girlfriend, ‘When I learn Serbian – don’t talk to me like you’re mad.’

What they decided was that it was a VERY literal translation of our saying Mind Over Matter. Get it? Pretend the word timber means “large log”. Now do you get it? It took more words than I feel like typing, but trust me — it works.

So what other Serbian gems might we need to know? Here are a few that our friends came up with:

Pomesaj Se Sa Mekinje, Pojesce Te Svinje: If You Mix With Slop, The Pigs Will Eat You. (Choose your friends wisely.)

Ko Sadi Hkve Sa Djavolom O Glavu Mu Se Lupaju: Who Plants Pumpkins With The Devil Will Get Hit In The Head With These Pumpkins (I think this is basically the same, but it’s so very pumpkin-specific that I can’t be sure. Maybe it only applies to farmers, or to Halloween?)

Ili Jare Ili Pare: The Money Or The Goat. (You can’t have your cake and eat it too.) This one is terrific because it sounds so cool when you say it. Our kids hate it already.”

–Bob & Brenna Redpath

“My Medellin apartment was well-suited for a party, and with only two weeks left in Colombia before I had to return home, I decided on a ‘wine and cheese’ theme and began inviting everyone I knew.

A few hours before the party was set to begin, I was returning from a last minute trip to the convenience store when I bumped into the beautiful Carolina. Since I’d failed to manage a date with her on every prior attempt, I was surprised to learn she was interested in attending my party. She went home to get ready, while I prepared the apartment.

As guests began to arrive with offerings of wine and typical Colombian cheeses, I spotted Carolina tasting the ones I provided. The Roquefort on a cracker was met with a grimace, leaving me to finish the last bite, while the port wine cheddar was much more to her liking.

When it came time to try the brie, she commented on how it was completely covered in sperm. I wasn’t sure I heard her right, so I asked her to repeat herself.

Again, she described the cheese as being covered in sperm. Disturbing images of semen-covered soft cheese flashed in my mind, while I stood dumbfounded before this pretty, proper Colombian woman.

Photo: Dotbenjamin

I called for help in the form of my friend, Henry.

‘Henry, why is she saying the cheese is covered in sperm?’ I asked.

Henry let out a laugh, and explained, ‘Sperm in Spanish also means wax…like candles.’ ”

–David Lee

“After enjoying endless plates of delicious fish in Cinque Terre, I decided to press my luck at a Venice restaurant. It is surrounded by water after all.

When my swordfish arrived, I realized the error of my ways and tried to explain to the waiter, in my garbled Italian, that it was undercooked, tasted quite fishy, and I just wasn’t going to eat it. Then I uttered the words I later regretted so badly.

‘It just doesn’t taste fresh,’ I said. The waiter’s face went blank, his eyes cold. He whisked the fish away and retreated to the kitchen.

As my husband and I pondered the implications of his actions, the squat, elderly chef came barreling out of the kitchen, and thrust an entire raw swordfish under my nose.

‘Fresca, fresca!’ she shrieked. I stared at my husband, panicked, as all eyes in the restaurant turned to us.

‘I’m sorry,’ I replied sheepishly. ‘I just didn’t like it.’

She continued to rant in rapid-fire Italian as suddenly, waiters appeared all around us, and began removing the bread, wine and water from our table. As the bill was set down and we fumbled to pay, the chef hovered in the corner giving us a look that would make even the most-hardened member of the Gambino crime family quiver.

We quickly paid and ducked out into the street, feeling the eyes of the chef boring into our backs. ‘Lesson learned,’ said my husband. ‘Never insult the freshness of an Italian chef’s fish.’ ”

–Katie Hammel

“Japan is a paradoxical country when it comes to comfort. On the one hand, as an English-speaking visitor, you’ll find it very easy to get around on the trains, order food, and enjoy museum exhibits without speaking a word of Japanese.

On the other hand, once you do start taking an interest in the local language and try to form a few words,you’ll find reactions will ALWAYS be positive:

Me: Excuse… me… where… train station is?

Japanese bystander: Ohhh! Your Japanese is so honorably skillful!

This was one reason I tended to stick with English in most conversations with my Japanese girlfriend – better to be the stereotypical non-Japanese-speaking foreigner than to accept unwarranted praise.

But even straight English got me in trouble withher a few times. While we were walking down the street one evening after an Italian dinner, making jokes and poking fun at cultural differences, I casually mentioned I thought she was a ’silly girl.’

That certainly stopped her in her tracks. ‘What do you mean? You don’t like me? You think I’m stupid?’ It turned out that she believed ’silly’ to be more ‘foolish’ and undesirable rather than something of a joke. She stayed pretty mad for a few hours until I convinced her, as the ‘authority’ on English in this little town, that I intended no harm. Still, that didn’t stop her from looking up the word on the Internet and in her pocket translator and insisting I was looking down on her.

I was tempted, as I would to women in any country, to simply capitulate and let her believe what she liked. But rather than let this idea of foolishness spread around Japan and eventually destroy all international couples, I set the record straight.”

–Turner Wright

“Once the sun went down, I stumbled out of my hostel room in London after a floor picnic consisting of wine, wine, Cadbury’s chocolate bars, and more wine. I was accompanied by three Swedish girls and two Spanish guys who were at the moment, my best friends in the whole world (I’d known them for three hours).

We were on our way to the closest bar possible. What we found consisted of, among other things, a flat-screen television projecting images of gym-savvy young men in Speedos, and a bouncer at the door named ‘Gloria’ who was adorned with platform shoes, fake eyelashes, and an Adam’s Apple. I may have been drunk and on the other side of the world, but I know a gay bar when I see one.

Photo: greenmelinda

I resigned myself to an evening of great dance music and eye candy that I could look at but not touch. This would be fun. We were all having a good time, but a few martinis into our dance party with Cher on the turntable, Malin, one of my Swedish cohorts, leaned over and whispered in my ear, ‘I think this is a gay bar!’

She had been wondering why all the attention had been directed toward Jorge and Ion. I’m not sure if it was the abundance of cheap hostel picnic wine and overpriced cocktails that led to her initial misreading of the bar clientele. That, or I’ll have to give it to Gloria the bouncer; she was rather convincing.”

–Marissa Barker

Community Connection

Want to avoid misunderstandings like these? Check out these five tips for avoiding embarrassing cultural mishaps.

Photo snowking24

Do you hear that?

The clatter of a busy market. Wheels going 60 miles per hour on badly patched highway. Do you hear the whooping laughter 3 blocks distant tittering off into uncontrolled giggling?

If you have your iPod on you don’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I love music. Hans Christian Anderson said “Where words fail, music speaks.” and I couldn’t agree more.But those ear buds are a barrier to the outside world, cutting the listener off from the unique cacophony that flavors each place.

I was late to the iPod party.I purchased my first, an unassuming gray little shuffle, just 2 months ago. And yes, while jogging and cleaning it feels like a godsend to have Bonobo and Led Zeppelin crooning and thumping, feeling the exquisite audiophile euphoria of the iPod user.

Photo Martin Krzywinski

But at what cost?

On a recent cross country early dawn bus ride I rested my forehead against the cool rattling glass. Looking about the bus at the other travelers, most of them napped or stared into the distance with white ear buds dangling.

I was jealous, yeah. I was also conscious that by bringing favorite songs with them across the world they tint the newness of the place with the familiar.

They were in effect cutting themselves off from something both subtle and profound. Something essential to travel. Sound.

How can this effect your travel writing?

You cannot know a place unless you hear it, unless you listen and let it speak to you. Oh, you can see a place, sure. And you may describe it in pithy, incandescent detail. But you cannot fully experience a place unless you actively listen. Not to what you want to listen to,but what you would hear if you were to surrender and sit still.

The creaking, swooshing, chatter of travel is a vital part of the experience and can color your writings.

Try this.

Shut your eyes. Sit and listen for 5 minutes. This may seem like a long time, hopefully after a few moments you will become accustomed to being a listening thing and new layers of sound, new secrets, will reveal themselves.

Let those secrets inform your travel writings.

And when there is nothing to hear…enjoy! Let the emptiness be your playlist. The great French mime Marcel Marceau put it well, “Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.”

What do you think? Am I just a crotchety ol geezer or am I on to something? Do you travel with your iPod?

Community Connection

Well if you are gonna listen to your iPod, you may as well make it good! Check out 10 Music Blogs to Keep Your iPod Stacked with Fresh Beats.

Burning Man may only last a week in the barren Nevada desert but Black Rock TV will broadcast all year with new videos and updates. Pat the Digital Vagabond and I have teamed up capture the magic from the worlds most unique art festival and present it in regular webisodes.

BRTV is also a place for the thousands of hours of Burning Man videos that will be captured by the 50,000 creative souls Black Rock City attracts. The site invites visitors to register and upload there own edited footage or raw videos.

Once registered you can upload from the site or embed from Youtube, Vimeo ect…The intuitive upload application also gives the uploader the option to offer their video to be remixed by other users, creating a database of footage to be utilized by all.

BRTV’s gonzo team of VJ’s ( including myself, Pat the DV and the Roads Scholars ) will shoot the news and events from the playa the week of Burning Man.

Hit us up in the comments if you are going to Burning Man!

[Feature Photo: John Curley]

Community Connection

Interested in becoming a VJ for Black Rock TV?

Already have a video from past a past Burning Man you would like to share?

Recently we looked at 4 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Published. One of the things we focused on was dedicating time to your blog. I wrote:

Simply put, writers who blog well and often are more accessible, relevant, and interesting than writers who don’t. Two examples that come to mind immediately are Sherman Alexie and Dennis Cooper.

This brought up a good question: which blogging platform is best to use?

WordPress

Wordpress is the most sophisticated and powerful blogging system available. It’s an Open Source project, meaning that a worldwide community is continually helping to develop and upgrade its technology and features.

It also means that it’s completely free and infinitely expandable. As new plugins and technologies are created, these can be added right to your blog. You can either have a free blog hosted at WordPress or you can buy your own domain, web hosting service, and then Download and Install WordPress onto the server.

All this said, WordPress isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone. Even though the tutorials and instructions are written and organized in a very intuitive and user-friendly way, there is a certain level of tech and computer knowledge assumed on the part of the forums / writers. In other words, unless you’re already a savvy computer user you might find yourself completely lost and discouraged in the process of setting up your own site on WordPress.

Secondly, WordPress is available and usable via a pre-made themes. There are thousands of them available, however, unless you have dev skills or know how to play around with CSS, you can’t really customize much yourself.

The best way to see if WP is for you is to go to Wordpress and play around. If you’d like to set up your own site, Craig Martin gives a complete tutorial on How to Set Up a WordPress Travel Blog.

[News update 8/24/09 - Matador was just featured in the WordPress showcase, a collection of the best-designed WordPress sites.]

Blogger

Blogger is Google’s blogging system. Its main advantage is that it’s very simple to use and customize. It’s not as powerful / expandable as WordPress, however, unlike WordPress, you can play with the coding and look of your blog in a preview screen. This is a great option for people without a lot of tech savvy but who may have a certain artistic vision of what they want their blog to look like.

Another advantage of Blogger is that you’re automatically part of a community of people worldwide. The backend of Blogger makes it easy to follow other people’s blogs and vice versa.

Tumblr and Posterous

With everything becoming about speed and mobility, people have gotten tired of having to go through several steps just to post a blog. This has led to new blogging systems set up where you can post just by sending an email (although this feature is also available at WordPress) or by cellphone. Two of the most popular are tumblr and Posterous. Basically they’re just streamlined blogging systems that focus on the content and not any other extra features, which, perhaps inadvertently, leads to an appealing aesthetic, a kind of minimalist style.

The main disadvantage of using tumblr or Posterous is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Posts created through tumblr or Posterous are simply not as visible to Google and people searching for content as blogs set up on WordPress.

The bottom line however, is that as a writer, what should matter most is that you’re writing. As long as you’re consistently adding content and communicating with other writers via social networking, you should be generating a following regardless of the SEO of your blog. In this sense, you should choose your blogging platform based on whichever blog system seems like it will facilitate writing the most.

Matador

For some people, what matters most isn’t the structure of a blogging platform, or the features, but simply the opportunity to blog at a place where you’re more likely to have a captive audience for your work. Using any of the above platforms, the one disadvantage is that you’re just one of millions of other bloggers.

Setting up your blog at a smaller community such as Matador assures that your writing will gain people’s attention.

Ultimate Set-up

Ultimately, if you’re productive enough, you can set up multiple blogs, each of which takes advantage of that blog’s particular features / advantages, and then tie them all together through one main blog. Take developer Lisa Brewster’s blog for example. She has incorporated a tumblr-style ‘log’, plus a porfolio, a twitter feed, and other information, all on one WordPress blog.

The most important step: just pick one blogging platform and get started!

Community Connection

Please reference the original article that prompted this one: 4 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Published.

Photo: The Giant Vermin Feature Photo: Lourdes Nightingale

No matter how experienced, prepared, and culturally sensitive a traveler you are, misunderstandings are inevitable–and often hilarious, even sometimes illuminating.

This week, pull out your notebook or laptop and start writing about misunderstandings you’ve had on the road–the funny, the sad, and the awkward: everything from a grossly misinterpreted street sign, to a mangled Portuguese phrase that had the entire dinner table staring at you in shock.

As always, bring us into the moment with you. We’re more interested in strong characters and original details than in philosophizing or “telling”–but feel free to follow that moving pen wherever it wants to take you.

When you’ve got something you like, send 250 words (or less) in the body of an email, along with your full name (or favorite alias) and your Matador community page url, with MISUNDERSTANDINGS in the subject line, to teresa@matadorntwork.com. We’ll publish our favorite bits and pieces next Monday.

Thanks for continuing to share your stories!

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/get-your-pen-moving-misunderstandings/feed/ 4 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/4-ways-to-increase-your-chances-of-getting-publishing/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/4-ways-to-increase-your-chances-of-getting-publishing/#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:44:35 +0000 David Miller http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=3147

Image: HikingArtist.com

At times, trying to get work published can seem overwhelming. Other times it can seem easy. And still at other times it can seem totally disheartening.

The biggest problem writers face when trying to get published is getting emotional about the whole process, being reactive instead of proactive.

Beginners often send out a single piece of work at a time to a single publication or blog. This may be a story they feel is their very best, and so if it gets rejected, they often take that as a rejection of themselves, their talent, vision, or style, when this is almost never the case.

To prevent getting emotional about publishing and to best optimize your time, we recommend the following 4 ways to increase your chances of publishing.

1. Develop a “publication mindset.”

A publication mindset is an attitude: you’re proactive in the publication process rather than reactive, able to put yourself in the place of an editor reviewing your work.

Having work rejected is never fun, however, once you get into a publication mindset you see that rejections are just part of the game, and as soon as it happens, you’re ready to send out the story to 5 new markets, or you have 5 new stories ready to go.

Getting into a publication mindset is a single strategy that involves the following elements:

*Visualizing what the editor will think when he / she receives your submission – Put yourself in the editors’ place. Even if you think your story is the a perfect fit, do you think they’re going to take it seriously if you don’t present in a professional, thoughtful way – a way that shows you’ve read their publication and submission guidelines?

*Ability to deal with rejection – The best way to deal with rejection is to submit stories and pitches on an ongoing basis. That way, whether a piece is rejected or accepted, you’re automatically sending a thank you note, then you’re moving on, ready to resubmit to a different publication or to send a new story.

*Learning from each rejection - Another way of dealing with rejection is to look at each one as part of the learning process. You don’t need to dwell on it, but simply ask yourself: Was the story really an ideal fit for the publication? Was the story as good as it could be or could you have done further edits?
Was your pitch / cover letter as good as it could have been?

*Continuously researching new and relevant markets – The most obvious way is to search the links page at your favorite blog or magazine. Another way is to study the bios of the contributors at blogs and magazines where you’re submitting. What other publications do they mention?

Always bookmark new blogs or magazines you find that seem like potential markets for submitting. Another trick is to to email the urls of the publication to yourself, labeling those emails consistently or giving a consistent subject to the emails such as “travel writing markets.”

*Ability to stay organized so that you are continuously submitting pitches and multiple submissions – Previously we’ve written about using a submissions log or a submission manager, basically a simple spreadsheet that allows you to quickly view and organize potential markets, contacts, and submissions.

*Understanding the hierarchy of getting published at different websites, magazines, and newspapers, and honestly assessing your position – The more you get published and the greater the readership of each blog, magazine, or newspaper that publishes your work, the higher up you move on the hierarchy, and the easier it will be for you to publish or “place” work at bigger and better-paying markets.

2. Always present yourself in a professional way.

All too often, travel writers tend to view and / or judge other writers or editors via their work, looking at them as “the competition,” getting emotional and egotistical, or defensive around them. Always remember that there’s a difference between a writer and his or her work. Consider writers and editors your colleagues. Your only real competition should be with yourself, to write better and to publish more.

The following are several key places for you to show your professionalism. In general, take up as little of the editor’s time as possible when dealing with:

* Pitch / query
* Follow up
* Thank you letter
* General communication
* Invoicing

For examples of what NOT to tell an editor, please check 3 More things Never to Tell an Editor.

3. Become a social media ninja.

Social Media is broad concept with many different elements and definitions, but at its core is the idea of using internet technology to facilitate connection, communication, and user-generated content. While each social media platform is slightly different, the end goal of all social media is to connect you and your writing to other people, and to invite them to connect with you.

The more time you spend on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon and other social media applications, the more you’ll see how writers utilize them to network with one another, share leads and opportunities, and in general, develop online communities that simply aren’t available to those not there participating.

4. Dedicate time to your blog.

Simply put, writers who blog well and often are more accessible, relevant, and interesting than writers who don’t. Two examples that come to mind immediately are Sherman Alexie and Dennis Cooper.

For new writers pitching Matador, the first thing we look for is their blog, the kind of writing they have there, and their following. If you don’t have a blog, get one now, for free at WordPress or Blogger and get your thoughts and links out there. It will expand your internet visibility and chances of getting published.

[Update, 8/18/09 - We just added a new article: Which Blogging Platform is Best for Writers?]

Community Connection

This article was remixed from different lessons at MatadorU.

Photo: Debrrr

Matadorians share their moments of travel terror from Cambodia to the Amazon.

This week’s collection of stories ended up being funnier than it is terrifying. Most of the contributors are admirably willing to make the jump from terror to laughing at themselves and the dicey situations they find themselves in. Enjoy alternately biting your nails and giggling as you read these excerpts from their work.

“Since the last bus had left and the government-run taxis were stalled, we could either lodge in a seedy gambling
establishment, or take our new, remarkably-good-English-speaking Cambodian friend’s offer to get a ride in his car – a mafia taxi. It was an offer we couldn’t refuse.

When four of the largest Cambodians I could ever imagine (who knew sumo was popular there) squeezed out of ’94 Corolla, my spirits actually lifted – I might as well use my last breaths to laugh!

Photo: Mugley

Fortunately, only one of the behemoths could fit into the car to drive us. Unfortunately, he spoke not a lick of English, so our questions along the way remained unanswered by all but our own anxious and sleepy imaginations, which were being battered by the bumpy ride down the unlit ‘highway.’

Mid night we thought we reached our destination. But alas, after driving a few laps around the dusty village roads, our driver stopped behind another car. He got out to smoke with a much thinner man under the glow of a lonely street light. Suddenly, we were motioned out of the car by our driver, who, strangely, learned enough English during the drive to repeat “I’m sorry” while the other man transferred our bags from the trunk to his. Now we were in this stranger’s hands….”

–Amir

“Monte Rico, a black-sand beach on the southern coast of Guatemala, is a home to Traitors. These Traitors, as Guatemalans call them, are freak waves which, after experiencing one, you may be tempted to believe have their origin in the 9th level of hell.

They are waves that don’t appear from out at sea but erupt abruptly from the coast, surging colossal. Jurassic waves that redefine your notion of raw power, swallowing and rocketing you towards the shore. Waves whose self-destructions whip and break you on the ocean bed, drawing from your lips an underwater moan.

Waves whose frothy and chaotic aftermath you surface in the midst of, kaleidoscopic pain swimming through your body, and a prayer in your mind, emanating from a legitimate fear of drowning, that you reach land before another such wave unleashes itself upon you. Those are Traitors.”

–Aaron King

“We were alone in the hostel in Las Penitas, Nicaragua, except for an armed guard who stood at the rickety sheet of metal that acted as the property’s gate. The creepiness of the place had subsided after we polished off a bottle of Flor de Caña rum, and I was nestled between my friends Jenna and Sarah.

In between dreams, I heard a muffled KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK. Someone grabbed my arm. It was Sarah. She whimpered “Si?” Nothing, then KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Photo: Alyssa L. Miller

Sarah shouted “Que?!” Still nothing, then KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Both Jenna and I roused ourselves to see what the hell was going on. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Our hearts and heads (swirling with the last effects of the rum) pounded. Sarah yelled “Como?!” We all swung our feet to the floor and flinched at the next KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Sarah, hysterical now, screamed “What?!”

Silence. Then… “Hey guys…” It was Nick. “Can I have some water? My parasite is acting up again.”

–Emily Nuchols

“I spent my last day in Chiang Mai walking through the city. I spent my last night in the ER.

The day was sticky. The heat barely tolerable. To reward myself for walking through all four gates of the city, I sprung for a three-hour Thai massage. I crashed at the hotel for a quick nap. My plan was to spend the evening at the Night Bazaar for some shopping.

After picking up a cheap-looking belt to hold up my shorts, I grabbed dinner. Pad Thai, two bottles of Chang Beer and a Mango Smoothie. I stood up and paid the bill. I don’t remember what followed.

The man who revived me, a loud, pushy German eating with his wife at the table next me, said I staggered from my table, hit a post, and fell. ‘And then you tried to get up, but fell down again.’

‘Wait,’ I answered. ‘Have you seen my belt?’

I spent an hour at Central Chiang Mai Memorial Hospital. They ran tests, found nothing. They said I was dehydrated. They directed me to the cashier window and showed me a slip of paper. 720 Baht. I reached for my money belt with my passport, extra cash, and credit cards. Nothing. I had taken off my belt at the hotel and forgot to put it back on. I panicked and put my hands in my pocket. I pulled out 750 Baht, the change from my dinner.

Lesson learned: hydrate after a three-hour Thai massage.”

–Emanuel Ramos

“I laughed as we stepped up on a library stool to get into the twin prop aircraft in the Bolivian Amazon. I remember saying something vaguely inappropriate to a few of my group members. Of course, as the guide, I was supposed to be putting them more at ease but now, six weeks in, they knew me and I them.

Photo: Antoine Hubert

Seated, I could survey the rutted strip laid out before us from the inexplicably small window. Our discomfort as we bounced along to the far end was not dissimilar to what we had been experiencing the previous weeks touring in 4×4s.

How many times had I made this flight, seven, eight? I mentioned that on occasions some people became euphoric with the lack of cabin pressure control. I could see some amongst my group hoping for this free “high”.

The aircraft lined up with the runway and as the pilot accelerated I had an unrivalled view of his actions and our line through the front windows. Shortly we would leave behind us the wonders of Rurrenabaque and climb to the lofty heights of La Paz.

The pilot was chuckling idly with the co-pilot, their eyes obscured by the ubiquitous aviator glasses and the nose of the aircraft lifted off the ground.

But we rose no further.

The pilot levelled the aircraft out at a height of roughly 2 to 3 meters above the ground. He was aiming at the tree-line at the end of the runway.

Before us lay a formidable obstacle: the Amazon. And we were headed directly at it.

In the split second before the pilot pulled up soaring over, yet perilously close to, the tree tops, all the while cackling maniacally at his joke, a girl in my group described my face as being nothing less than ‘resigned to death’. My eyes did not open wider but my colour drained and I was at peace.”

–Richard McColl

Community Connection

If you liked something you read here, take a moment to click through the writer’s Matador community page and leave a comment.

Check in with the Notebook next Monday for another prompt to get your pen moving!

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-stories-of-travel-terror-from-the-matador-community/feed/ 2 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/4-free-video-editing-programs-with-user-reviews/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/4-free-video-editing-programs-with-user-reviews/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:41:23 +0000 Joshywashington http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2888 You don’t have to spend a fortune on editing software. Get started with one of these 4 free editing programs.

Photo: udt_greenberet1123

You have captured amazing footage of your trip, now what do you do with it?

Most professional editors use programs that cost an arm and a leg and require hours upon hours of training.

In the case of the average traveler, simpler is better and free is best.

iMovie

iMovie has a very intuitive interface and many cool features that allow for transitions and titles. iMovie also works easily with iPhoto and Garage Band allowing you to add your favorite pictures and compose your own soundtrack.

iMovie is only compatible with your Mac and is free with a new computer purchase.

User Reviews
“iMovie 09 is genuinely useful and fun.”

“…non-techie older people need only iMovie, but the majority of apple users have the skills necessary to use Final Cut Express.”

Windows Movie Maker

Movie Maker comes installed on newer computers running Windows. Like iMovie, Movie Maker has drag and drop editing features for the casual editor. Common complaints include frequent freezing and crashing.

User Reviews
“Freezes constantly. No exaggeration….probably once every 3 minutes. Makes it impossible to get anything done.”

“Cheap, simple, very irritating”

DOWNLOAD MOVIE MAKER

Wax

Photo: blakespot

Wax touts itself as high performance video compositing and special effects software.

Wax can create 2D & 3D special effects and works in two modes – as a standalone application or as a “plug-in” to Sony Vegas, Pure Motion Edit Studio and Adobe Premiere.

Reviews seem to agree that the interface takes some time to learn, but for special effects this is one of the best, free options.

There are also warnings of piggybacking viruses.

User Reviews
“There are so many options and it comes with over 50 effects! I love it and it is extremely hard to find other free plug-ins for my software…”

“Excellent video editing, with severe rendering issues.”

“Not easy for beginners (like me), but after you read the Help section and practice a lot, you’ll get the hang of it… This suckers just kickin’ my ass right now though.”

DOWNLOAD WAX

ZS4 Video Editor

The new incarnation of Zwei-Stein Video Editor claims to be advanced video editing and compositing software with over 150 built-in video effects.
ZS4 runs on Windows, Linux and OSX and is free to download.

User reviews are pretty scathing and many people seem to have problems running the program… might want to do more research before you download this bad boy.

User Reviews
“User interface designed by Stevie Wonder.”

“Huge amount of effects/filters, infinite level of track sub-mixers, great chroma keying and cool distort effects.”

“Slow and difficult to use.”

DOWNLOAD ZS4

Community Connection

Get your editing juices gushing with the 7 Most Inspiring Travel Video Channels on YouTube

Photo:flattop431

If you are anything like me, you have more than a few tales of travel terror.

Like the time I was cruising down the beach front ribbon of road in Mui Ne, Vietnam.

My mother Cory sits between my wife Bridget and I on the rented scooter as we are try to decide which bar we want to munch calamari in.

Then it hits me.

Well, actually it hits Bridget.
A twenty person mini bus slams into the back of us like a battering ram.
The three of us throw out legs out to steady the wobbling scooter that threatens to go down, putting us under the wheels of the bus.

Too often I have thought to myself in some near brush with travel cataclysm~

“Just what the hell am I doing out here!”

I had a great time chopping up this footage of Bridget and I in Long Hai, Vietnam when the entire town gets word a tsunami is heading straight for them!

How to Run from a Tsunami! from confluence creative media on Vimeo.

One minute we are blogging, the next we are running for our lives!

As soon as Bridget and I made the mile long sprint back to our guest house I set up the tripod. I knew whether a tsunami leveled the town or not I might get some cool footage.

Shooting video while terrified is a good thing to do. Assuming you survive the encounter (good luck!) you will be happy you had the presence of mind to capture the madness.

Scared? Unsure? Panicked?! First things first…grab your camera!

Community Connection

It can be a scary world out there, and having a few phobias doesn’t help either! Check out The 5 Deadliest Travel Fears,5 Simple Ways To Conquer Your Fear Of Flying & The World’s Most Dangerous Hike at your own risk!

Photo: Gia Rose Feature Photo: Giraffe 756

It’s Monday again–time for you to start writing, time for us to start anticipating a new batch of your travel stories. Get your pens out, and…go!

This week we want to hear about moments of travel terror: a close shave with a rampaging bull? Realizing at 3 a.m. in a strange city that you’ve lost your wallet, your room key, and your passport? Getting picked up by heavily-armed police officers for an offense you don’t understand?

Whatever it was, make us sweat (shiver, shake, whimper…) through the experience along with you. Send 250 words (or less) worth of whatever you come up with to teresa@matadornetwork.com, along with your full name (or preferred psuedonymn) and your Matador community url, with “TRAVEL TERROR” in the subject line.

We’ll publish some of our favorite paragraphs, sentences, and turns of phrase next Monday. We look forward to reading your words!

Community Connection

Matador member Sarah Shourd is in the middle of a very real moment of travel terror right now. Read the breaking news on her situation at Matador Pulse.

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/get-your-pen-moving-travel-terror/feed/ 1 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/5-more-words-we-never-want-to-see-in-travel-writing-again/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/5-more-words-we-never-want-to-see-in-travel-writing-again/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:47:34 +0000 Teresa Ponikvar http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2769

Photo: Joe Seggiola

After we published “10 Words and Phrases We Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again,” some readers argued that travel-writing clichés can be necessary and useful in certain mainstream publications. Others felt that we should stop whining, that no word should be declared off-limits.

And lots and lots of readers had lists of their own hated and despised travel-writing words. What can we say? We love to whine about bad writing. So here are five more words we’d just as soon never see again in travel writing:

Photo: Supermac

1. perched/nestled. These words are just too, too adorable when used in reference to towns or buildings.

Form the picture in your head of an oh-so-charming, thatch-roofed country inn. Now picture it…nestling. Ugh. Save these words for birds and fluffy little puppies.

2. Mecca. Mecca is of course an actual place you might travel to or make reference to, and in either of those cases, it’s a perfectly appropriate word to use. But a Shopping Mecca? A Snowboarding Mecca? Really?

Would you ever refer to a “Shopping Basilica of Guadalupe?” Or a “Snowboarding Konark Sun Temple?” Sounds dumb, right? Okay, then.

3. shrouded. Whether it’s shrouded in mystery or shrouded in fog, this seems like a strangely morbid word choice in most situations. A shroud, after all, wraps a corpse. Do you mean to imply that San Francisco, “shrouded in fog”, is dead and awaiting burial? Probably not.

Photo: Jitze

4. spartan/rustic. Our problem with these words is when they’re used for “spin” purposes. If the toilet is an open ditch out back, you have to bring your own toilet paper, and yes, those are bedbugs—well, “rustic” is perhaps bordering on dishonesty.

5. eatery. Just imagine how goofy you would sound if you used “eatery” in conversation. “I don’t feel like cooking—let’s go to an eatery!” Try saying that out loud and see if you don’t giggle.

(And don’t worry: if someone was silly enough to actually name their restuarant “The Brown Cow Eatery” or some such thing, we won’t hold you responsible.)

Community Connection

Is your travel writing pet peeve still missing from the list? Share it in the comments!

Want to learn the craft of travel writing?

Sign up for Matador’s new Travel Writing School and get the skills you need.

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/5-more-words-we-never-want-to-see-in-travel-writing-again/feed/ 32 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/5-no-tech-ways-to-be-creative-while-traveling/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/5-no-tech-ways-to-be-creative-while-traveling/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:26:34 +0000 Joshywashington http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2704

Watercolor by Josh Johnson

Here are 5 old school ways to be creative without benefit of WIFI, wires, keyboards, or kilobytes.

Watercolor

Watercolors are cheap, portable and easy to use. A few bucks will get you a watercolor set and a few more will get you a decent brush. In the hands of a master, watercolor is a magical medium indeed. In the hands of the rest of us watercolor is both fun and forgiving. I created the watercolor above while watching the sun set in Krabi, Thailand.

Collage

Take ordinary objects from the world around you and arrange them to tell the story of your journey.

Ticket stubs, jotted notes, newspaper clippings, currency, postcards…anything that offers a glimpse into the world you are inhabiting will take on an especially exotic air after you return to your seemingly mundane “normal life”.

Sketch

As our Journal Pages feature shows, sketching is a powerful way to flex your creative muscles and immortalize the moment while traveling. You don’t have to be an amazing artist, you simply need to grab a a pencil and start doodling.

Music

If you are traveling with a guitar or bongos on your back this is obvious, but making music shouldn’t exclusively be left to musicians. We all have the ability to drum a rhythm or hum a tune. Here’s an idea, grab some friends milling about the hostel or campsite and have an impromptu drum circle or sing along.

Music is perhaps the oldest art form and has been a part of building community, telling stories, relaxing and expressing creativity since times unremembered.

Poetry

Poetry grants the poet freedom to express beyond the limitations of form to express beautiful and abstract experiences. Your travel poetry need not be long or formally structured. Boil an epiphany down to a few raw ideas and words that evoke emotion.

Community Connection

What are your favorite no-tech ways to get down with your creative self? Share with us in the comments. And holy amazing analog creativity Batman, check out these journal pages!

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/5-no-tech-ways-to-be-creative-while-traveling/feed/ 14 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-animal-stories-from-the-matador-community/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-animal-stories-from-the-matador-community/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:06:29 +0000 Teresa Ponikvar http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2671

Photo: IRRI Images

After reading this week’s submissions, I am fully convinced that animals need to make more appearances in our travel writing. In these stories, they provide comic relief, metaphors, and suprising new perspectives on human affairs.

Enjoy these excerpts from your fellow Matadorians’ work!

“People a lot smarter than me wear hats or pith helmets in the jungle. I had to wear those silly-looking helmets for 3 years in the jungles of Panama, years ago. They make you sweat, and then, the leather headband shrinks and crushes your skull. I’m not working for the government now, so when I go in the jungle, I wear or don’t wear whatever the hell I want to.

I never saw the spider I came across. I walked right into his web. It was at just the right height across the trail to wrap my whole head and the upper half of my body in stuff you could use as a substitute for Super Glue, only it stinks worse.

While I was cussin’ and flailin’ around trying to wipe the mess off of me and my trail partner was laughin’ his ass off, the spider was probably spinning a new web !

Solution: Wear a hat? Hell no! Get a taller trail partner and let him lead the way!”

–Michael Lynch

Photo: Ken Mayer

“Cockfighting is legal in Guatemala although even some Guatemalans are unsure of its legality. This lack of knowledge speaks to the mystery surrounding the blood sport. Few Guatemalans are capable of telling you where to find a cockfight if asked and even fewer possess concrete details pertaining to fights. Your best chance at gaining admittance to a cockfight is through connections. I was fortunate to have just such a connection.

My university professor in Guatemala, whom I shall call Roderigo, was the uncle of a weekend gallo fighter, Gabriel. Was I interested in seeing a fight of Gabriel’s, Roderigo asked. Of course, and we were off one Saturday evening to the cockfights.

We drove to the house of Gabriel, on the fringe of Guatemala City. Luis, Gabriel’s father, was waiting for us. Roderigo had only just parked when Luis opened my passenger-side door and whisked me (“Rapido, rapido, Aaron ”) into his home. He had never before had the chance to explain his gallo-passion to a foreigner.

He showed me to a study in the back, and through the windows I could see the family’s rooster coop behind the house. “Special windows,” Luis said,pointing to the doubly-thick panes, “No hear cuckoo.” I glimpsed only one rooster occupying a cage before Luis took me by the sleeve and rushed me back towards the driveway (we were late for the fights), but it stood in profile to me: proud, meditative, mysterious.”

–Aaron King

“Were they going to charge at me? I had never been so close to one cow before, never mind an entire herd! I continued to approach them and when just over a metre away they started to run in the opposite direction. I didn’t expect such large animals to be so timid.”

–Dan Massie

Photo: Henrique Vicente

“Pushing his nose through the glass shards, mangled steel, and dilapidated bricks of a former palace, now destroyed, he trots along the sidewalk. Stopping briefly to scratch his spotted white and black neck with his long, slender legs.

‘Don’t you realize there is a war going on?’

Ignoring the hulking, armored vehicles as they drive past, he continues foraging through the rubble. He doesn’t care about the politicians or their wars.

The “weapons of mass destruction,” roadside bombs, religious tensions, and suicide bombers wreaking havoc on cities mean nothing to him. He won’t shed a tear for the mothers and fathers not going home to their children, or the children being buried by their loved ones. He just wants his next meal.

Panting, and without filling his stomach at the palace where people once gorged themselves on luxurious feasts, he darts into the darkness.”

–Michael James

Community Connection

There have to be more great animal stories out there–tell yours in the comments.

Got great ideas for future “get your pen moving” prompts? Share them in the comments!

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-animal-stories-from-the-matador-community/feed/ 4 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/how-to-improve-your-travel-writing-with-anecdotes/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/how-to-improve-your-travel-writing-with-anecdotes/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:07:38 +0000 David Miller http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2673 Lagos, Nigeria. Photo: Lola Akinmade

When writing a travel story, sometimes you have a minor character or incident that doesn’t fit well in the plot, but which, if included, would add a particularly rich detail or reinforce the story’s overall theme. This is when you need to utilize anecdotes.

Take the following example from a story about a typical day in the life of a young woman with her family in Lagos, Nigeria:

“You get Punch? How about Guardian?” my mom yells out in pidgin English to a newspaper vendor racing alongside the car in traffic. Balancing a stack of newspapers on his head with a few stuffed underneath both armpits, he skillfully pulls out a Punch and exchanges it for a 10 Naira note. Twenty years later and now 100 Naira a pop, this daily ritual of buying Punch Newspaper remains.

Up until this point in the story, the reader has only been given details of the family at home: the mother cooking breakfast, the girls putting on their uniforms and getting ready for school.

Although the girls are moving quickly to get ready for another day, overall there is a very orderly and peaceful sense about the house (which is also the theme of the story–the strength of family and ritual). So when this anecdote of buying a newspaper is presented, it works in multiple ways, making the reader feel as if he or she has suddenly gone from the peace of the house into a much faster-moving world outside.

Also notice how the anecdote ends with a good transition right back into the story: “Twenty years later and now 100 Naira a pop, this daily ritual of buying Punch Newspaper remains.”

Not only does this transition move the reader back into the story, it also serves to reinforce the theme, the daily ritual.

An anecdote works best when it returns the reader to the story with a new sense of understanding or awareness of the characters.

Remember this when you’re deciding whether to include an anecdote. If it’s an amusing or interesting incident on its own, it still isn’t necessarily good for the story unless it adds to the theme, setting, or reader’s visualization of the characters.

Community Connection

Want more Travel Writing tips? Check out our focus page at Matador on How to Write.

So, the holy foreskin, eh? How did you find yourself studying such a bizarre footnote to Christian history?

I sometimes asked myself the same question—especially during the periods of self doubt. But having studied European history in college and grad school it seemed like the perfect subject for me: this unusual relic has been looming about the periphery of various historical periods and movements, from the Middle Ages to the fury that inspired the Reformation to the 19th-century Romantic movement. It was a fun challenge in writing the book to put the relic into a historical context for each period.

Your book actually began life as an article in Slate, right? At what point did you start thinking there was a full-length travel narrative in the making, and how did you make that transition from article to book?

Actually, a book was my original intention. But writing the article was a great first step. Plus, in the back of my mind, I had hoped the article would get enough attention that it would help me sell the book. And, in fact, that’s exactly what happened. The blogosphere went crazy over the article, people were talking about it on the radio, and people from the publishing world were emailing me asking if I’d sold the book yet. I often tell my writing students that the easiest way to sell your book is to write an article on the subject in a high-profile publication.

Was it a tough balancing act over there, between making friends, researching your book, learning Italian, and, I assume, writing for a living as well? Any advice on how writers can balance all their commitments while tackling something like a book project?

It wasn’t so difficult. I had fully absorbed myself into the village and into the history of the relic and the area. It all pervaded me to the degree that nearly everything I did could have been part of the narrative that would become my book.

As for magazine and newspaper assignments, they came much easier than when I’m back in New York. One fast-track way to getting assignments is to move to a country often featured in travel publications—like, say, Italy. You’ll get story ideas and angles much easier, you’ll appear “an insider” to editors because you’re living there, and you’ll come delightfully cheap since no one has to pay for you to fly across an ocean to get there.

The rolling hills of Calcata, home of the Holy Foreskin / Photo: draks

When you were still in Calcata, were you thinking ahead to the writing, and going, “Man, I need a dramatic climax to this story,” or were you too wrapped up in the mystery itself to think that far ahead?

I was hoping to have a conclusion that was less speculative, but I didn’t know what. Until I heard (from a Vatican insider) what happened to the Holy Foreskin, I had no idea how the book was going to end. So, not only I was I jump-up-and-down excited that my efforts had finally produced a conclusion on the relic, but I was also happy I was going to have an ending to the book, too.

There’s some pretty meaty religious history worked into the text. Could you give us an idea of the breakdown between research and writing time? Was it difficult to find a balance between the two?

I was—and still am—so obsessed with the history of the Holy Foreskin that it never felt like work to me. It was great going the Vatican Library and doing research and then spending the next day writing about it.

The most challenging part was actually balancing historical exposition and writing about my present search for the relic in the narrative. The transition between the two, while writing an accessible and comprehensive (and generally chronological) history of the relic, was almost like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle in my mind.

What’s been the hardest thing about writing and publishing your first book? And the most fun, or satisfying?

The only way into Old Calcata / Photo: paulspace

For most people, the most difficult aspect is getting a publishing house to want to publish your book. As I mentioned above, I didn’t really have that problem. So for me one of the most difficult aspects was being able to shut out distractions while I was writing the book.

I wrote the first two-thirds of the book—60,000 words—in three months in Calcata, where I didn’t have very many modern distractions (like TV and the internet) and I wrote the last one-third of the book—30,000 words—in six months in New York City. If I had tried writing the entire thing in New York, I’d probably still be working on it. Now I understand the importance of writing colonies and retreats.

Finally, the inevitable question: What’s next for David Farley? Another book? Another weird town? Perhaps some well-deserved rest?

Trying to get the word out about An Irreverent Curiosity. Also, I’m just starting on another book project, but it’s in the very early stages, so I don’t want to go into much detail yet. I will say that it’s far from a travel narrative and will have much more consequence than stuff I’ve written in the past.

Community Connection:

Getting Spontaneous

Photo:erichhh

Find a comfortable place.
An easy chair, a coffee shop nook, the end of a pier…
now write.

Don’t think. Don’t judge.

Merely allow yourself to experience the flow of creativity that seems to well up from nowhere.

Intuitive writing, automatic writing, free-writing, stream of consciousness, whatever you call it, spontaneous writing can be a very powerful exercise in your writing practice.

Spontaneous writing relaxes the mind and can annihilate writers block because you are not judging or limiting your expression, but simply letting it be what it is. Over time this practice will greatly strengthen your focus and flow on topic-based writing because your mind is conditioned to the act of spontaneous creativity.

This liberating and simple technique gained momentum during the surrealist movement in 1920’s Paris with writer/poet Andre Breton at the helm.

Breton instructs:

“Attain the most passive or receptive state of mind possible. Forget your genius, your talents, and those of everyone else… Write quickly with no preconceived subject, so quickly that you retain nothing and are not tempted to reread. Continue as long as you please.”

Your Turn

Take 5-15 minutes to scribble or type without fear or hope and you may be surprised what beautiful turns of wordplay and inspiration can be discovered by your unconscious mind.

Community Connection:

A thread on the Travel Writing & Photography forum has been created for you to share your spontaneous writing and help create a more supportive community of writers and travelers. Let’s all hold hands!

Photos: Ckubber Feature Photo: What Silence

Around Matador, we hear a lot about amazing interactions between travelers and local people–but we don’t hear a whole lot about encounters between travelers and local animals.

This week, get your pen moving by thinking about amazing mammals, amphibians, insects, reptiles and fish you’ve met (or run from, or squashed, or ridden, or been attacked by…) on your travels.

Remember, while you’re free to write absolutely anything relating to animals and travel (after all, the idea is to get you writing), we’re less interested in abstract meditations on animal rights than we are in strong stories and descriptions. Bring us into the moment with you and your animal friend (or enemy).

If you’re new this week or need a refresher, you have one week to write anything you like within the scope of the “animal encounters” prompt. Send anything from three to 250 words to teresa@matadornetwork.com, along with your full name (or whatever name you’d like to be indentified by) and your Matador community page url. Next week, we’ll publish our favorite bits and pieces of the entries we’ve recieved.

If you haven’t already, check out previous “Get Your Pen Moving” submissions about food and homecomings.

Community Connection

Never connected with a member of another species? Check out Azriel Cohen’s article on how to connect to wild animals through your own primitive nature.

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/get-your-pen-moving-animal-encounters/feed/ 4 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-coming-home/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-coming-home/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:35:01 +0000 Teresa Ponikvar http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2343

Photo: historiesinrust

There was definitely no concensus among the Matadorians who responded to this week’s prompt. They saw “coming home” as everything from a relief to a burden; the gateway to another adventure, or an adventure in itself.

Check out these excerpts from their work, and take your pick of new perspectives on your next homecoming!

“I’ve found that sometimes, particularly after a protracted absence, coming home has as much to teach me as going away.”
–Tabatha Smith

“Sometimes people are shocked that I never went “home” during my two years in Lesotho as a Peace Corps volunteer. I think that they can’t really imagine that a small hut in a small village could become my home. Being a bit world-weary and cynical myself, maybe I couldn’t imagine it either. It happened, though.

Photo: m-louis

I can actually pinpoint the exact time when I realized that my village was my new home. My first winter break from school was amazing. We went hiking on South Africa’s Wild Coast, and then I lived it up in Cape Town, treating myself to lattes and bagels and anything else I couldn’t get in my village. A train and several mini-bus rides later and I was back in Lesotho, walking the last 7 K over the pass to my village.

And there it was, my valley, my mountains, my home. Even with all the fantastic things I had done and seen on my vacation, and even though I’d only been in the village for six months, I felt everything you feel when you finally get home: relief, pride, comfort.”
–Stacey C.

“Coming home… feels like surrender.”
–Mike

“There are two lines in front of me: Brazilians and tourists. The three weeks spent in my home country, in the land where I was born and grew up, are a clear indication that I am a foreigner, just like most of my fellow passengers. Yet I seem to fit neither of the options: I am not entering on a tourist visa, but two years in Brazil do not make me Brazilian.

I freeze, and a migrations officer notices my hesitation: “Are you a foreigner? Here is the line for tourists.” I flash the appropriate page on my passport: “I’m not a tourist. I’m a resident.” He smiles and points me towards the line for Brazilians. I breeze through immigration and customs, leaving all other foreigners behind.”
–Ernest Machado

” ‘Coming Home’ hangs like a dusty, renaissance oil painting in the unknown gallery of my soul.”

Photo: hjl

–Ant Stone

“I remember when I was only eight, and my aunt and uncle were in the West Bank, using their shiny US passports to get Israeli soldiers to let the Palestinian family they were staying with plow their fields. They put my new email address on the list for their emails home, and so I became a rare American eight-year-old: informed at length about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

One day, I got excited because the subject line was ‘Back in the usa’. Opening it, I realized that ‘Back in the usa’ meant ‘[we] arrived in NYC yesterday, and we are leaving for Belize, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico tomorrow.’ I didn’t see them that homecoming.

For me, the idea of homecoming has always come with the expectation that leaving will not fall far behind.

The travelers in my life went directly from Palestine to Belize. Even when they got back from Kenya and Uganda, their vagabond days over, they began planning: ‘Well, teaching public school takes up lots of time, but if we leave Christmas day, we can still go back to Mexico for a week and a half before school starts. And then there’s always spring break – let’s go scuba dive in Bonaire. And yeah, summer school will get the Masters more quickly, but there’s still time for a fast tour of Europe and a road trip around the West Coast.’

The way I know it, homecoming is another way of saying ‘Here we go again!’ ”

–late_stranger

Community Connection

Liked something you read here? Take a moment to follow the links to the writer’s Matador community page and leave a note.

Other thoughts on coming home? Share them in the comments!

–

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/you-got-your-pens-moving-coming-home/feed/ 4 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/3-more-things-to-never-tell-an-editor/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/3-more-things-to-never-tell-an-editor/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:20:49 +0000 Julie Schwietert http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2331

Image: Kristian D.

1. “Please hurry up reviewing my submission. I have a family emergency [or health problem or other urgent need to make some cash] and need the money, even though you pay less than other publications.”

This message—excerpted from an actual e-mail we received recently from a writer whose work we’d never published before—was problematic for a few reasons.

First, the writer was imposing his or her own sense of time and urgency upon the editor and the publication’s established process for reviewing submissions. Most publications, print and online, receive dozens, if not hundreds, of submissions every week. We actually read and respond to every one of them.

Doing so, however, takes time. It’s unfair to expect that your article will be fast-tracked for any reason, and it’s unreasonable to pressure an editor to work more quickly. If you’re looking for job stability and a regular paycheck, writing probably isn’t the best profession for you.

Second, the writer was making his problem the editor’s problem. Though it’s occasionally appropriate to disclose your personal circumstances, that’s often only the case when you have already established a close working relationship with an editor. Remember: the relationship between a writer and an editor is one of collegiality. You need to remain professional.

Third, the writer’s message assumed that we would be publishing his article. It was presumptuous.

Finally, the writer gave a passive-aggressive jab about the article pay rate. If you don’t feel comfortable with a particular publication’s rate, then don’t waste your time or the editor’s time by compromising yourself and arguing over dollars and cents. You’ll only regret your decision later.

2. “I’ve submitted this article to three other magazines.”

Not only should you not tell an editor this; you shouldn’t DO it. Multiple submissions may seem to be a time-saving device for you as a writer, but they’re a time-waster for editors.

Reviewing a writer’s submission is a time-intensive process requiring thought and attention; it often involves multiple members of an editorial team. If you’ve submitted your article simultaneously to other publications and one picks it up before the others do, you’re forced to notify the editor that the piece has been accepted elsewhere.

Writer, beware: you’ve likely burned a bridge that won’t easily be rebuilt.

3. “I submitted an article a few weeks ago. Are you going to publish it?”

We encourage writers to check on the status of their article if they haven’t heard from us within 4-6 weeks after submitting. However, including some identifying information—such as the name or topic of the article—is not only helpful; it’s essential.

Community Connection:

What are three other things you should never tell an editor? Read our first article on the subject here.

Photo: Meanest Indian

As a rule, my nights are dreamless. Oh, I know they say you dream every night. I guess I have to take that on faith.

As a boy my dreams were glorious Technicolor affairs, weaving fantasy, absurdity, terror, and profundity into narratives the might give Lewis Carroll a run for his money. Somewhere, all that stopped, until I set foot in Italy in 2002, my first journey overseas.

Then came the dreams. It was like the dreams were all stuck in traffic and arrived at once.

When you travel without rush or any real consequence of time, your mind shifts to a watching, patient thing.

One tested method for more dreaming is keeping a dream journal. Starting a dream journal is easy and makes an awesome addition to your regular travel journal. Here’s how:

1. Get a notebook or journal specifically to record your dreams in and keep it within arm’s reach of your bed. Dreams fade fast and it is important to record as much as possible as soon as possible.

Photo: akshay moon

2. Write in the present tense and write down every possible detail of your dream. Location, sounds, objects, colors, characters, and your emotional state are important elements of your dream to explore.

What is the feeling it leaves you with when you wake up?

It is OK to scribble random feelings and scattered, lingering thoughts from your dream. Don’t constrain your journal with grammar or punctuation worries. Sketch the landscapes or scenes from your dreams. The more you actively remember your dreams the easier it will be to slip into dreams and remember them with clarity.

3. Be consistent. You don’t have to do it every day but journal as often as possible. Enriching the memory and experience of your dreams takes practice. Who knows? Soon you could have a best selling dream journal like Jack Kerouac’s Book of Dreams.

Dream often and dream big!

Photo: Bill and Mavis Feature Photo: Swimparallel

You blew us away with your food stories last week–gross, delicious, bizarre, down-home, and everything in between–and now it’s Monday again, and time for another prompt.

If you’re new to the Traveler’s Notebook, here’s the deal: every other Monday, we throw out a topic or prompt to help you get your pen moving (or your keyboard clicking, if that’s more your style). You send us whatever you come up with–a meditation, a story, a list, a review, a haiku, no limitations on form–and the following Monday, we post our favorite lines, paragraphs, observations, and turns of phrase so you can check out your fellow Matadorians’ work.

This week’s topic is “coming home.”

Photo: Larsz

Feel free to interpret the topic in any way that inspires you: your homecoming or someone (something?) else’s? “Home” as a house, a town, a country, or a state of mind, a river, a person, a bike? A relief at the end of a long journey, or a painful necessity? Run with it!

Paste your writing (up to 250 words) in the body of your email, along with your Matador community page url. Please put “COMING HOME” in the subject line and send to teresa@matadornetwork.com.

We look forward to reading your words!

Community Connection

Check out Matador’s Bounty Board and find new opportunities every week to get paid for your travel writing!

Want to learn the craft of travel writing?

Sign up for Matador’s new Travel Writing School and get the skills you need.

]]> http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/get-your-pen-moving-coming-home/feed/ 1 http://thetravelersnotebook.com/uncategorized/tips-for-travel-video-the-elements-of-a-story/ http://thetravelersnotebook.com/uncategorized/tips-for-travel-video-the-elements-of-a-story/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:02:11 +0000 Joshywashington http://thetravelersnotebook.com/?p=2242 Whether writing or editing video, good storytellers use the principal elements of character development, story arch & pacing.

Character: When we watch a movie or read a book, we are engaged by the characters and the circumstances they find themselves in.

Think of yourself as a character in a good book.

• What would you like to know about the character?
• What are you doing and why?
• What do you hope to gain from your travel experience?

When you give the audience a look into how you are being affected they can better live vicariously through your trip.

Story Arch: Even simple travel footage benefits from being presented with a beginning, middle and end. Creatively organize your photos and video footage in an order that gives the footage movement

Cut the Fat: Look for moments when you or your subjects are actively engaged into what’s unfolding, and take out the rest. A good rule of thumb is if it doesn’t add to the story, take it out. People like digestible content; three minutes is a good goal for your video. If you have really engaging content, you may be able to grab their attention for five.

Be Consistent: If you have enough footage for several videos, create a style and be consistent. Decide on a title for your series and add some royalty free music. Using the same opening each time will create continuity for each of your videos.

Community Connection

Contemplate yourself as a better travel writer.

Photo: Alexanderward12

Thanks to everyone who participated! Here are some excerpts from their work:

“After a few shivers, I chased the tarantula legs down with tarantula “wine”, which ended up being a pretty wicked shot. With an uncomfortable cough, I remembered the jars of tarantula and snake wines that I had seen earlier in the day—rotting insects sitting at the bottom of the jar. This is what travel insurance is for, right?”
—Olivia, Matador ID poweredbytofu

“Aculturalized. Definition: When the sight of mummified pigs’ legs hanging on the wall not only doesn’t make you do a double take, but makes your mouth water. ”
—Troy Mahumko, Matador ID barmadu

“So far it had been a depressing summer. With his wife in Greece, Russ spent all his time at work in Baltimore. In New York, I’d just moved into a dump of a studio apartment, and my girlfriend flew off to California. We were suddenly the lamest bachelors on the Eastern Seaboard, and we couldn’t even meet up for dinner to complain about it.

But with nothing tying me to Manhattan, I hopped a bus south. I’d never seen Baltimore, but I imagined it the perfect place for two old friends to drink beers in dingy pubs and curse the fates. Bertha’s, the Fells Point dive, was our destination.

The door was still closing behind us when the sky opened up.

Photo: Sylvar

We took a table in the back and our tattooed waitress slapped down some menus. We didn’t need them and asked for bowls of mussels and a couple beers. The mussels were amazing.

The rain was still slashing the windows, so after our bowls were cleared, I asked for a slice of pecan pie and a bourbon. Russ had a glass too. For the moment we were dry inside the warm bar, with tumblers of whiskey, sitting with each other, not thinking about the rest of the summer.”

—Paul Brady, Matador ID Paul Brady

“I can walk the street and watch the cars pass—browns, reds and golds—and return, for that one colour-tranced second, to crumbling Indian lanes, flanked with bins of cumin, chili, and saffron.

Later—and it happens only every so often—the breeze sends a gift. I return, for one aroma-fused second, to the Channa dinners with my adopted Multani family who saved me. It is as real as ever, as real as anything I have ever owned.”
—Zachary Hope, Matador ID hopey

“….In the mornings I bypass the noodles and go for the steamed buns (contents always a lottery- they could be red bean or chopped bitter greens or sweet pork or anything fathomable and unfathomable) or the curry buns oozing spiced yellow oil or the very odd but yummy fried egg that is wrapped up with something like firm white custard (even the Chinese teacher couldn’t tell me what it was).

Photo: Celldigi

I love the vast mysteries of my supermarket. I love huge succulent crunchy wedges of fresh ginger and pungent, fresh heads of garlic, both cheaper than breathing. I love jars of chili paste that create hallucinogenic dreams. Shanghai makes me hungry.”
—MaryAnne Oxendale, Matador ID koangirl

“For a day and a half I stare at plates of Penne all’ Arrabbiata, pizza bianca, bruschetta, even fruit— unable to eat. We sit, my son and I on the Piazza Campo dei’ Fiora, the remnants from the daily market still scattered upon the piazza—in front of us a platter of buffalo mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Provolone and fresh ricotta with fresh grilled bread and olive oil—I only look at it. Unable to eat cheese! Incredible! Unthinkable! Cheese, my very own “I wish I could quit you” relationship….”
—Coreen Haydock Johnson, Matador ID corrand

“I got serious about wine around my 21st birthday, or if I’m being honest, a year or two before the date which made me a legal consumer of alcohol in the United States. I loved everything about it. I would have worn Viognier as perfume had it been socially acceptable to rub wine on one’s neck.”
—Marissa Barker, Matador ID MarissaRose84

“For my last dinner in Calarca, a city in Western Colombia, my host, Juan Ramos,
introduced me to the Super Burger.

The burger, from top to bottom consisted of:

Photo: Marshall Astor

• the top half of a sesame seed bun,
• lettuce,
• a smattering of crumbled potato chips,
• ketchup,
• ham,
• pineapple sauce,
• a beef patty,
• discs of tomatoes,
• discs of cucumber,
• tartar sauce,
• a sloppy infusion of a chimerical sauce known as ´pink´ (a combination of mayo and ketchup),
• a second beef patty,
• a second layer of lettuce,
• and the bottom half of a sesame seed bun.

We finished within seven minutes. The speedy intake of the burger blurred my vision,
momentarily; too many calories. Did Juan desire a second? His brow furrowed with
surety when I asked; ‘Heeell no,’ he replied.”
—Aaron King, Matador ID Aar1on2

“Local lore [in New Orleans] suggests that since Monday was traditionally laundry day, it was a good day for cooking red beans. The dried beans could simmer unattended during the day with the clothes were being washed. Personally, I think the dish makes great week-end recovery food: creamy, smoky, spicy, satisfying. It’s like a slightly inappropriate hug.”
—Stacy C, Matador ID kefuoe

“The taxi driver was holding something.

He’d claimed to be waiting for a fare, and I’d been about to walk away and try to find another taxi home, when I saw the way an orange-shirted security guard was leaning in the driver’s side window, looking at something.

It was an iguana. A big one, too, no less than a foot long from head to tail. It had beautiful, unblinking yellow eyes and greenish yellow skin with black spots all over like freckles. They are an endangered species in Honduras, but still a common sight in Roatan, one of the Bay Islands off the mainland. The man in the passenger seat was holding him by the neck, while the taxi driver picked bits off debris off a broken, lifeless foot.

Photo: Mauricio Pellengrinetti

‘What happened to him?’ I asked in Spanish.

‘Got hit by a car. The policia gave him to us,’ the driver said, referring to the security guard, who was already walking away.

‘He’s beautiful.’

‘He’s dying,’ his friend in the passenger seat said, demonstrating this fact by moving the iguana’s head, which lolled lifelessly, as if the neck had been broken.

‘What are you going to do with him?’

The taxi driver laughed. ‘We are going to eat him. It is delicious. El otro pollo.’ The other chicken. ‘Some people, they hunt them and kill them, but this one is already dead, see?’

He waved the broken foot.

I nodded.

‘I don’t think my fare is coming. I can take you now.’”

—Amalia Foster, Matador ID afoster

“Eating is for home. Meals are built into my routine life, even acting sometimes as the entertainment and escape of the day. Travel equals no routine. On the road, food stands last in the line of importance.”

—Sabina Lohr, Matador ID travellohr

“If you are driving through Madagascar, you don’t even have to leave the road. While passing through towns, locals will bring hard-boiled eggs, bbq chicken, and even bottles of soda right up to your car window. ”
—Maureen Maloney, Matador ID Maureen Maloney

“In broken English, my teammate asked me if I’d ever tried daktdoritang before. I shook my head, and the conversation (in Korean, of course) perked up to include all 12 Koreans at the table.

Daktdoritang is a spicy chicken stew – a very spicy chicken stew made with lots of red pepper – and each one of them seemed to take pride in how much they could eat without drinking any water. Apparently, the preferred beverage to accompany this dish was soju, a distilled drink that tastes like vodka….

It took almost three days to feel my tongue again, but a bit longer than that to live down the bright red cheeks.”
—Chris Backe, Matador ID chrisinseoul

Community Connection

Liked what you read here? Follow the links to the participants’ Matador community pages—and don’t hesitate to leave comments!

Look for a new prompt at the Traveler’s Notebook next Monday!

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